Kumari Jayawardena

Kumari Jayawardena had her secondary education in Sri Lanka and entered the London School of Economics in 1952. She earned the B.Sc. (Economics) degree in 1955 and then qualified as a barrister from Lincoln's Inn, London in 1958. She also obtained the Certificat d'Etudes Politiques from the Institut de Science Politique, Paris in 1956. In 1964 she received a Ph.D. in industrial relations from the London School of Economics.

Jayawardena taught Political Science at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka from 1969 to 1985, when she retired as Associate Professor. She also taught in the Women and Development Masters Course at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, Netherlands from 1980-1982, and was an Affiliated Fellow of the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, USA in 1987-1988. She currently teaches in the Masters Programme in Women's Studies at the Colombo University and is a Senior Fellow of the Graduate Studies Institute of the Colombo University.

Jayawardena is the author of several books, including Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, which was chosen for the Feminist Fortnight award in Britain in 1986 and was cited by Ms. Magazine in the USA in 1992 as one of the 20 most important books of the feminist decades (1970-1990). This text is widely used in Women's Studies programs around the world.

Jayawardena's books and pamphlets have been translated into Sinhala and Tamil. She plays an active role in women's research organizations and civil rights movements in Sri Lanka, and is presently the Secretary of the Social Scientists' Association, a group of concerned scholars working on ethnic, gender, caste and other issues.

In Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, Kumari Jayawardena reconstructs the history of women's rights movements in Asia and the Middle East from the 19th century to the 1980s, focusing on Egypt, Turkey, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. Her research shows that feminism was not a foreign ideology imposed on Third World countries, but instead, it developed on its own in Asia and the Middle East as women struggled for equal rights and against the subordination of women in the home and in society in general.

In The White Woman's Other Burden, Kumari Jayawardena examines the independent white women who challenged the normative gender roles laid down by the British during the occupation of South Asia. Specifically, she discusses the work of Katherine Mayo, Helena Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Madeleine Slade, Mirra Richard, and many others who struggled against colonialism for the betterment of all women.

Table of Contents:

1. The Noble and the Ignoble -- White Women as Goddesses and Devils

Part I: Saving the Sisters from the Sacred Cows -- Christianity and "Civilization"

2. The Imagined Sisterhood of Women
3. Christianity and the "Westernized Oriental Gentlewoman"
4. Going for the Jugular of Hindu Patriarchy -- American Women Fund-Raisers for Ramabai

Part II: Mothering India -- Women Social Reformers from the West

5. Radical and Secular Reformers
6. The Medicine Women -- The Struggles of Western and South Asian Women Doctors
7. "Children of Children" -- The Child Marriage Controversies and India

Part III: "Consolidation in an Alien Society" -- Women Theosophists and Orientalists

8. "The Light of Asia" or "Hooey from the Orient"?
9. "Sandals in Idia and Shoes int he West" -- Annie Besant's "Passage to India"
10. From London's West End to Jaffna -- Florence Farr as George Bernard Shaw's "New Woman"
11. "Blazing the Trail for Indian Women's Freedom" -- Margaret Cousins in India
12. "O Free Indeed! O Gloriously Free!" -- Women Orientalists, Writers and Funders

Part IV: White Women in Search of Black Gods

13. Western Holy Mothers as Soul Mates of Indian Gurus
14. Irish Rebellion and "Muscular Hinduism" -- Margaret Noble as Vivekananda's "Lioness"
15. From Admiral's House to Gandhi's Ashram -- Madeleine Slade in India
16. The "Jewish Mother" of Pondicherry -- Mirra Alfassa Joins Aurobindo

Part V: Comrades in Arms -- Western Socialist Women Fight Imperialism

17. Women and Revolution
18. Comrade or Evil Temptress? -- American Socialist Women and Indian Left Leaders
19. Red Flags in the Emerald Isle -- European Socialist Women Intervene in Sri Lanka
20. Conclusion: An Asian Feminist Gaze

Bibliography

BOOKS

From Nobodies to Somebodies -- The Rise of the Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 1998.

The White Woman's Other Burden -- Western Women and South Asia During British RuleNew York: Routledge, 1995.

Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. London: Zed Books, 1986.

Ethnic and Class Conflicts in Sri Lanka. Colombo: , 1985.

The Rise of the Labor Movement in Ceylon. North Carolina: Duke University Pres, 1972.

EDITED BOOKS

Embodied Violence -- Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia. (Co-edited with Malathi de Alwis) London: Zed Books and Kali for Women, 1998.

SELECTED ARTICLES

"Annie Besant's Many Lives," Frontline (17 Oct 1997).

"The Women's Movement in Sri Lanka 1985-1995, A Glance Back Over Ten Years." (CENWOR, 1995).

"Sinhala Buddishm and the Daughters of the Soil," Pravda 1 (May 1992).

"Some Thoughts on the Left and the 'Woman Question' in South Asia," in Promissory Notes. Ed. S. Kruks, R. Rapp and M. Young. (Monthly Review Press, 1989).

"The National Question and the Left Movement in Sri Lanka," in Facets of Ethnicity. Ed. C. Abeysekera and N. Gunasinghe. (SSA, 1987).

"Feminist Consciousness in the Decade 1975-85," in UN Decades for Women -- Progress and Achievements of Women in Sri Lanka. CENWOR, 1986.

"Bhikkus in Revolt," Lanka Guardian (May-July 1979).

"The Origins of the Left Movement in Sri Lanka," Modern Ceylon Studies 2 (1971): 195-221.

"Economic and Political Factors in the 1915 Riots," Journal of Asian Studies 29 (Feb 1970).

"Pioneer Rebels among the Colombo Working Class," Young Socialist (Nov 1968).

"The Impact of the October Revolution 1917-1935," Ceylon Observer 16 (Nov 1967).

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