Talk:Uma Chakravarti

By Renuka Joshi

Uma Chakravarti is a feminist historian who taught at Miranda House, University of Delhi, from where she took early retirement in 1998. She has been associated with the women’s movement and the movement for democratic rights since the late seventies. According to her profile,she writes on Buddhism, early Indian history, the nineteenth century, and contemporary subjects.

As per her bio, she has published no books, papers or research pertaining to Hindus, rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva, India or the Indian Government in the context of BJP government.

In 2021, she endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women in these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Publications related to India

1. Chakravarti, Uma. "Rethinking the Goals of Education: Some Thoughts on Women’s Education and Women’s Development." Contemporary Education Dialogue, vol. 9, no. 2, 2012, pp. 223-243.
2. Chakravarti, Uma. "Of Binaries and Beyond: The Dialectics of Buddhist–Brahmanical Relations in India." 2009.
3. Chakravarti, Uma. "Beyond the Mantra of Empowerment: Time to Return to Poverty, Violence and Struggle."
4. Chakravarti, Uma. "Archiving the Nation-State in Feminist Praxis: A South Asian Perspective." Centre for Women’s Development Studies Occasional Paper, no. 51, 2008.
5. Chakravarti, Uma. "Beyond the Mantra of Empowerment: Time to Return to Poverty, Violence and Struggle." IDS Bulletin, vol. 39, no. 6, Dec. 2008.
6. Chakravarti, Uma. "State, Market and Freedom of Expression: Women and the Electronic Media." Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 35, no. 18, 29 Apr. 2000.
7. Chakravarti, Uma. "Of Meta Narratives and ‘Master’ Paradigms: Sexuality and the Reification of India." Delhi, CWDS Occasional Paper, 2009.
8. Chakravarti, Uma. "Long Road to Nowhere: Justice Nanavati on 1984." Economic and Political Weekly, 27 Aug. 2005, pp. 3790-3795.
9. Chakravarti, Uma. "Beyond Orientalism: The Brahmanical Caste System." (Book review of ‘Beyond the Four Varnas: The Untouchables in India’ by Prabhati Mukherjee), Tenor, Sep. 1990, pp. 62-65.
10. Chakravarti, Uma. "Saffroning the Past: Of Myths, Histories and Right Wing Agendas." Economic and Political Weekly, 31 Jan. 1998.
11. Chakravarti, Uma. "Gender, Caste and Labour: The Ideological and Material Structure of Widowhood." Economic and Political Weekly, 3 Sep. 1995.
12. Chakravarti, Uma. "Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Caste, Class and State." Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 28, no. 14, 3 Apr. 1993.