We are not as Advanced as you. Muslim Women's Activism in the Telugu Region

My talk focuses on Muslim women's activism in the Telugu region both in the contemporary period and in the past. It discusses the largely socio-religious engagement of the first decade of the millennium and the post-2019 protests against the NRC and the CAA, It explores the lost links between these phases of activism to the leftist and social reformers from the early 20th century. Drawing from fieldwork as well as co-travelling as a fellow activist, I explore why the figure of the Muslim woman activist is missing from the imagination of the contemporary activists. I suggest that the multiple trajectories of these activists, tied to the different historical movements, are not merely lost to the subsequent generation, but are left aside in the changed context where Muslim communities as a whole are considered unimportant or insignificant or minor.

 

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