Browsing by Author "Das, Madhurima"

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Gendering Bordered Exclusion: Gender Politics and Everyday Spatialization in Indo-Pak Border Infrastructure
(Taylor & Francis, 2025) Das, Madhurima
The study explores the transformation of Punjab into a borderland after India’s Partition and examines the effects of infrastructural barriers on everyday lives of villagers, particularly women. An ethnographic study was conducted on two border villages – Audar and Mulakot, and Schindler’s (2015. Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical Design of the Built Environment. The Yale Law Journal 124, no. 6: 1934–2024) theory of architectural exclusion was employed to analyze the findings. Our study finds that everyday spatialization reflects the patriarchal norms of the villages and the security anxieties of the state. The infrastructural edifice is planned in a manner that they create a palisade in the name of protecting women. Such a design mainstreams tight control in a layered manner, leading to concentric circles of disadvantage where the immediate dominance is wielded by the men in the family, and the second layer of direct control is exercised by the armed forces. To conclude, the creation of bounded borderland spaces with restrictive infrastructure leads to women’s absence from public spaces.
Globalization and Culture
(Cengage Learning India, 2017) Das, Madhurima
Health equity and gendered border blindness: an exploration of healthcare services at the international border in Rajasthan
(Elsevier, 2024-02) Shukla, Tanu; Nirban, Virendra Singh; Das, Madhurima
Citizens' access to health care and the delivery of the healthcare services is significantly affected by the spatiality of the regions and the connectedness of the elements of the healthcare system. This network of healthcare system, region and delivery of services faces myriad challenges in the borderland geography, which is characterised by accentuated military presence, poor physical infrastructure, disinterest of habitation near the border, lack of adequate, necessary and allied services such as schools and industry, social seclusion, migration etc. All these factors amalgamate to create an effect of gender-blind phenomenon as well as border-blind phenomenon. This is particularly acute for women and children.
Locating Masculinities in Border Policies of Nation State
(Taylor & Francis, 2023-03) Das, Madhurima
As public policies are tools of nation states that greatly influence and determine lives of people, its intersection with gender is extremely relevant to comprehend unequal social relations and inclusivity. There is a huge lacuna in the domain of research required to detect and locate the presence, productivity and permeation of power, which makes a nation state essentially masculine. This paper locates masculine attributes in the functioning of nation state by juxtaposing public policies pertaining to borders with fieldwork done in Punjab borderlands and demonstrates a practical approach where mainstream policies, which are often portrayed as disembodied entities, are mapped with gender using content analysis to unravel their masculine underpinnings. With the aid of some key policy documents such as – Border Area Development Programme, Policy and Procedure for return of Ex-Militants to Jammu and Kashmir State, and The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, our analysis finds that masculinity emerges from distinct policy contexts and its positioning is varied depending on its end goals. The policies tend to read more masculine when the goal is to eliminate or reduce threats to the sovereignty of state.
Mediating postcolonial pregnancies in neoliberal times
(Taylor & Francis, 2019-06) Das, Madhurima
During the same month that the Indian Edition ofBusiness Insider—an Americanfinancial and business news portal—published this article on mother-entrepreneurs,the Indian pharmaceutical giant Mankind launched a marketing campaign for itspregnancy test kit,Prega News, with the hashtag:#YourSecondHome. This campaignthat focused on working pregnant Indianwomen was actualized through a dedicatedwebsite, media releases and most notably a viral advertisement that racked up over10 million views on YouTube. However, both theBusiness Insiderarticle and the#YourSecondHome Campaign (which has since been followed up with two more viraladvertisements in 2018 and 2019) fail to account for the context in which thesepregnancies are located: specifically, postcolonial India, where the labor force parti-cipation from women is abysmally low and where women earn only 62% of whattheir male colleagues earn for performing the same work (Catalyst2018).This short essay by focusing onPrega News’#YourSecondHome campaign, asrepresentative of“spectacularised and idealised ideas of pregnancy”(MelanieKennedy and Safiya Noble2019), reflects on how postcolonial pregnant subjectivitiesare mediated through neoliberalism. As postcolonial subjects ourselves, we point outthat such reductive mediations reflect a neoliberal framework, which“as a dominantstructural condition . . . projects totalizing social change”(Aihwa Ong2007,4)andrenders important intersectional identity markers in the postcolonial sphere, likecaste and class, invisible. Such representations divert audiences’attention fromrealities of a deeply gendered and partisan Indian labor market as well as thechallenges for“matricentric feminism[s]”in (supposed) postfeminist spaces. (O’Reilly2016). Contextually, the heterotopic (Michel Foucault1986) nature of postfe-minist landscapes has been cogently articulated
Mommy Knows?: A Critical Study of “Mom-Schools” and Formal Education in Kolkata
(IGI Global, 2020) Das, Madhurima
Globalization and its imminent effect on education have received attention in recent years. Less widely acknowledged is the discussion of the role of middle-class mothers who are stuck amidst the changes in their children's education and future. With the aid of in-depth face-to-face interviews and extensive participant observation in Kolkata, this chapter examines how middle-class mothers resort to commercial solutions to help manage their crisis in a neoliberal India. The crisis managers in the form of “mom-schooling” agencies support and coach mothers to negotiate with the changing education system and parenting methods that have become highly Americanized. In this chapter, the author uses Bourdieu's theory of conversion of capital to argue that mothers in Kolkata are acting as “converters” of capital with the help of commercial mom-schools by converting economic capital to a distinct form of cultural capital that they transfer to their children for the latter's success in a global economy.
Mum’s the Word: Heteronormative Indian Society and the Censorship of Single Unwed Mothers
(Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 2016) Das, Madhurima
The right of single unwed mothers in India has not only been a widely debated topic but is also situated at the core of gender equality. Scholars have discussed the positionality of single unwed mothers in Indian society within the larger discourse of patriarchy. In this paper, I examine the materiality of the spaces within which the recent Supreme Court’s ruling on single unwed mothers can be implemented. I argue that the emancipation of single unwed mothers is contingent on macro social and institutional analysis. I situate my argument in the larger context of class mobility, social stigma and the neoliberal economic debate. In doing so, I also analyze the censorship of unwed mothers as a ramification of heteronormativity that aims to marginalize any other form of sexuality. In conclusion this paper by closely examining the censorship and stigma of single unwed mothers will shed new light on the rarely acknowledged larger issues of class mobility and neoliberalism
The Persistence of Gender-blind Phenomena in Indian Science Academia
(Bepress, 2022) Shukla, Tanu; Das, Madhurima; Nirban, Virendra Singh
Using the theoretical tool of gender-blind sexism, an extension of Bonilla Silva’s (2003) color-blind racism, the current study explores the key determinants which are responsible for discrimination of women in science disciplines in Indian higher education. We argue that gender-blind sexism demonstrates how gender discrimination operates as institutional tools to discriminate between men and women in science fields. Although the science stream proclaims gender neutrality/blindness, it ultimately disfavors women over men. This study with the aid of extensive in-depth face-to-face interviews, aims to recognize the pattern accountable for women’s reduced progress in the sciences. Against the backdrop of the recently framed National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, by the Government of India, this intensive qualitative study identifies certain crucial dimensions responsible for gender discrimination and diminishing participation of females in Indian academia, especially in the sciences. With several institutional policies that have been in place to mitigate challenges in overt sexist patterns in the workplace, the analysis still confirms the existence of a perceivable organizational barrier, which hinders the rise of women faculty members. We infer that gender discrimination operates through covert mechanisms of gender-blindness and such practices are normalized institutionally as a brand-new form of sexism.
The Persistence of Gender-blind Phenomena in Indian Science Academia
(Bridgewater State University, 2022-05) Nirban, Virendra Singh; Shukla, Tanu; Das, Madhurima
Using the theoretical tool of gender-blind sexism, an extension of Bonilla Silva’s (2003) color-blind racism, the current study explores the key determinants which are responsible for discrimination of women in science disciplines in Indian higher education. We argue that gender-blind sexism demonstrates how gender discrimination operates as institutional tools to discriminate between men and women in science fields. Although the science stream proclaims gender neutrality/blindness, it ultimately disfavors women over men. This study with the aid of extensive in-depth face-to-face interviews, aims to recognize the pattern accountable for women’s reduced progress in the sciences. Against the backdrop of the recently framed National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, by the Government of India, this intensive qualitative study identifies certain crucial dimensions responsible for gender discrimination and diminishing participation of females in Indian academia, especially in the sciences. With several institutional policies that have been in place to mitigate challenges in overt sexist patterns in the workplace, the analysis still confirms the existence of a perceivable organizational barrier, which hinders the rise of women faculty members. We infer that gender discrimination operates through covert mechanisms of gender-blindness and such practices are normalized institutionally as a brand-new form of sexism.
Postcolonial pandemic publics: examining social media health promotion in India during the COVID-19 crisis
(OUP, 2022-04) Das, Madhurima
Affordances offered by new media platforms are perceived as revolutionary instruments for removing the inequities of access to health promotion and communication. However, the production and dissemination of health promotional material on digital platforms does not necessarily translate into uniform access across diverse demographics. This article addresses the lacuna when it comes to analyzing Health Promotion initiatives in India, with a specific focus on the governmental publicity carried out on social media during the four phases of COVID-19 national lockdown between 24 March and 31 May 2020. Our intervention examines how governmental social media health promotion in India played a key role in shaping the ‘outbreak narrative’ during the lockdown across different levels of social and economic privilege. Through a combination of quantitative data analysis and qualitative interview methods, this article analyzes the circulation and impact of official publicity in online and offline spaces, during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Resultant findings allow for a comprehensive assessment of whether such publicity contributed to democratized citizen science discourses: enabling social protection measures for vulnerable majorities or potentially reified the existing privileges of the economically and socially affluent minority. We find that health promotion campaigns during a pandemic must focus on reaching the widest possible audience in the most efficient manner. Specifically, in the Indian context, health promotion through mass-media like Television and Radio, and participatory media platforms needed to be implemented in tandem with new media platforms, to achieve required engagement with vulnerable communities on key health issues.
A World Without Gender." Sociological Perspectives, edited by Constance L. Shehan, Gale, 2017. Gale Researcher, Cengage Publishers
(Cengage Learning India, 2017) Das, Madhurima
To envision a post-gender world, it is important to pay some attention to the patterns of gender discrimination that operate in society. Gender is a social construction, meaning that masculinity and femininity are constructed and maintained through social interactions and socialization. The social constructionist framework of gender has created a binary between masculinity and femininity: for example, women are trained to be submissive and men to be aggressive. However there are avenues by which this inequality can be eradicated, both at the micro and the macro social level. Without giving attention to the patterns and systems of gender discrimination that exist in society, a post-gender world remains beyond reach. However, changes can be made at both the macro and the micro levels. At the micro level, it is important to alter the imbalance of labor within the household, where women disproportionately shoulder the household responsibilities. Parenting also operates on a micro level, and in order to attain a post-gender society it is vital to socialize children beyond the gender binaries. At the macro level, changes need to happen in the schools, workplace and media. Schools should discourage gender-based bullying, and workplaces need to reduce discrimination against women. Media portrayals of gender have also been problematic for a long time. Television shows and movies legitimize gender binaries, thereby reinforcing gender discrimination. To attain a gender-neutral society, the media rhetoric has to change. At the core of a post-gender society are intersectionality and an appreciation of diversity. As much as we discuss changes in gendered behavior institutionally, it is important to take into account race, nationality, sexuality, and other differences.