Summary:
On May 22nd, 2025, at 6:30pm Prof. Subhadra Channa delivered a distinguished lecture titled “Do We Have a Feminist Anthropology in India?” under the AIF Distinguished Guest Lecture Series. Introduced by Prof. Sunita Reddy and Dhuri Saxena, Prof. Channa explained that during the period starting from the Second World War, feminism as a movement started developing in European countries, the Western world, and even India. Women started to realize their helpless position and how they have been exploited for generations because of their gender construction and roles.
Unlike feminism or women’s studies, Prof. Channa explained, feminist anthropology is a method that dismantles how knowledge is created and who controls it. She highlighted its rise in the 1990s, when scholars began challenging the “white male” perspective that long dominated anthropology, often sidelining women’s contributions. As an example, she pointed to Indian scholar Iravati Karve’s feminist take on the Mahabharata, which reimagined epic narratives through a gendered lens.
Prof. Channa also unpacked the evolving concepts of “woman” and “gender.” Early discussions, she noted, treated “woman” as a universal category, but marginalized groups like lower-caste women in India pushed back, revealing gender as a social construct rather than a fixed identity. She credited anthropologist Margaret Mead for showing that “biology is not destiny,” a phrase that drew nods from the audience.
Indian scholars, such as Leela Dube, have further enriched the field, Prof. Channa said, by challenging Western male-female binaries and emphasizing India’s unique gender roles tied to family and cultural traditions. In India, gender isn’t just about being a man or woman, it’s about being a mother, sister, or daughter, she told the crowd, underscoring the interplay of gender and kinship.
Then talking about culture Prof. Channa explained how culture for men and women are not the same, it is a different experience for both the gender.
The lecture also tackled anthropology’s historical bias toward studying “the other” from a privileged perspective. Prof. Channa noted that feminist anthropologists, often seen as outsiders themselves, have reshaped the field by highlighting women’s overlooked roles in classic studies, like those by Bronisław Malinowski.
As the lecture came to an end, Prof. Channa’s talk left a clear message that feminist anthropology isn’t just about studying gender but it’s about rethinking how we understand the world. It’s more about how we perceive the conceptualized roles of women and men rooted in patriarchy. Attended by approx. 44 participants via zoom meeting and 112 participants via YouTube Live from various universities such as DU, Savitri Bai Phule Pune University, Indra Gandhi National Tribal University, University of Allahabad, Utkal University, University of Kashmir, Assam University, BHU, Dibrugarh University Hyderabad University, University of Edinburgh, etc. the lecture, sparked lively discussions among attendees, signalling its impact on India’s academic and social landscape.
