Talk:Kumari Jayawardena

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[edit] Say whaaat?

I was trying to find examples that support the critique that Kumari Jayawardena is associated with christian 'fundamentalism'. Thus, far, all I've found is Jayawardena's own nuanced analysis of Christian influences and the role they played in socializing women and girls vis-a-vis thrid world feminism and offers a discussion of imperial feminism versus feminist sisterhood ("The White Woman’s Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia During British Rule" p. 37). And in "Feminism and Nationalism" she talks critically about how religious educational insitiutions (i.e. catholic schools, methodist schools, etc) were used not so much as a way of educating females in Sri Lanka but as socializing well groomed future wives of the correct Christian denomination for the males at corresponding institutions. She's aknowledged the effects that European women have had on shaping feminism in Sri Lanka (as is referenced by Shyam Selvudari in his novel Cinnamon Gardens), but I'm not sure where the classification of 'funamentalism' and association with evangelical groups comes from. Please help me figure this out, if possible. In the article by Line Nyhagen Predelli ("Sexual Control and the Remaking of Gender: The Attempt of Nineteenth Centualy Protestant Norwegian Women To Export Western Domesticity to Madagascar") she cites Jayawardena: "The missionary movement was the largest activity for colonial women and it allowed for broader opportunities for women than other imperial projects. Because the missionary movement saw missionary women as central to winning female converts and building Christian communities, they developed closer relationships with local women than did other white women in the colonies. Conversely, memsahibs, or the wives of male European civil servants, army personnel, settlers, and merchants were more aloof to the concerns of local women's everyday life."* So, it seems she talks about the role of missionary and evangelical work vis-a-vis women's lives and experiences in a way that doesn't ammount to fundamentalism of any sort. Maybe, if its needed, it would be fairer to say that 'her work as it relates to European missionaries has been critiqued by those who interpret it as lenging credence to missionary work aimed at delegitimizing non-christian religions in Sri Lanka (such as Buddhism and Hinduism)' or 'has been critiqued by those who fear her work priveledges or valorizes the history of missionary work in a way that ignores its negative effects'? I don't know if this whole thing even matters, because its a small part of Kumari Jayawarden's relevance to feminism and scholarship (especially within the context of a short Wikipedia article)...so maybe just leave it here in the discussion section? Cheers.

Ovaltine