डिस्लोकेटिंग कल्चर्स

परिचय

Uma Narayan, an Indian-born philosopher teaching at Vassar College, published this book of essays in 1997. She criticises both Indian traditionalists who dismiss feminism as a Western import and Western feminists who explain the oppression of women in the global South by their “culture”. A key example compares dowry murders in India with domestic-violence murders in the United States: the first are read as a cultural phenomenon, the second as individual crimes. Narayan also examines the debate on sati, the burning of widows, and how “Indian culture” was constructed in colonial times. The book is a key text of postcolonial feminist philosophy.