Author:

Dr. Tamali Mustafi
Associate Professor
Department of History
Surya Sen Mahavidyalaya
Darjeeling,West Bengal,India

Email: tamalimstf3@gmail.com

Abstract: The paper presents a historiographical review of gender, reform and nationalism in modern India. Critical feminist interventions and debates from colonial discourses to current perspectives are acknowledged to reflect on the synthesis of gender images in Indian historiography. From the colonial “woman question” to subaltern and intersectional analyses, the paper synthesises selected historical moments and their implications for the gendered construction of Indian society. It reviews the changing perceptions of female agency under colonialism, nationalism, and social reform movements while mapping the present challenges in feminist historiography. Methodologically, the review adopts a historiographical perspective to look into feminist, subaltern and intersectional critiques. By putting these perspectives in the frontline, this study illuminates how successive schools of thought have redefined women’s subjectivities, from being symbolic representations in colonial and nationalist discourse to the recognition of their lived realities and diverse voices in contemporary feminist historiography.

Key Words::Interventions, Gender Historiography, Social Reform Movements etc.