‘Society still in the process of writing women back into history’

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Oct. 27 (EMN): Assistant professor of History department, Assam University, Diphu campus, Mahua Bhattacharjee, on Thursday, shared that social sciences have been dominated by men for so long that women have almost been written off from history and record.

Unlike men, she said there is a need to organise special seminars and workshops just so that people can talk about women.

“We still are in the process of writing back women into history and this says a lot about our society,” she added.

Bhattacharjee was speaking at the inaugural programme of a two-day national seminar on “Women of Northeast India and Indian Freedom Movement” at Pranabananda Women’s College (PWC).

“When we talk about human history, our job is not to write off the man, but we should include women in those pages,” she said.

Further, Bhattacharjee stated that equality that is applicable in public spaces is absent in the private space, and domestic violence is very much prevalent in the tribal societies.

“A woman is bound by tradition as someone who should look after the family and there is nothing wrong in that, but it is wrong to expect a woman to do that or assign them the role of cooking and cleaning and judge them if they do not do so,” she said.

Stating that it is important view history through the lens of feminism, she said people still seem to be struggling to put the focus back on women through workshops and seminars even in 2022, terming it as a collective failure of society as well as academies.

“We have to keep re-writing and re-focusing the limelight on women,” she said, while lamenting that a chapter on women is all it takes for a textbook to be called inclusive even in academics.

During the technical session, Santosh Hasnu, assistant professor of History department from Hansraj College, Delhi gave a special lecture; Vivi Swu, assistant professor of History department from Dimapur Government College, spoke on the role of women in the Naga struggle for freedom with special reference to the Sumis.

Amit Barman from Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS) spoke on ‘INA movement in connection with Joya Thaosen: A lesser known freedom fighter from NE India’; Hunmili Teronpi from AUDC Assam spoke on ‘Traditional Gender Role: Narratives of Karbi Anglong in the research scholar self-determination struggle’ and Anjana Engtipi, research scholar from AUDC Assam presented on ‘Legendary figure of Karbi women and their struggle’.

The seminar was organised by PWC in collaboration with MAKAIAS, Kolkata.