The Awakening of Indian Women - Book Launch Event

Join an esteemed panel of historians and writers as they celebrate the republication of an early anti-imperial feminist classic, The Awakening of Indian Women.

First published on the eve of the Second World War and, until now, buried in the archives, this unique document from the first global feminist movement is testimony to the deep historical roots of revolutionary feminist thought and action.

For Amia Srinivasan, Kamaladevi’s The Awakening of Indian Women is “radical and visionary” and “deserves a place on feminist reading lists and in the wider transnationalist feminist imagination. Among other things, it is a potent reminder that feminism is not an invention or prerogative of the West.”

Told by a vibrant cast of activists at the centre of feminist and anti-imperial struggles, Awakening includes a historical account of the Indian feminist movement written by Irish suffrage activist and anti-colonial agitator Margaret Cousins.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903–29 October 1988) was an artist, activist and a central figure in the inter-war Indian feminist movement. A twentieth-century Indian feminist icon, after independence she is celebrated for leading the revival of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre after independence.