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"A Conversation with Visiting Professor Dr. Sonia Amin"
Professor Sonia Nishat Amin is the current Arthur Lynn Andrews Distinguished Visiting Professor at UH Manoa. She is visiting from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Dhaka. Currently, Dr. Amin is teaching a 300-level course in the Department of History entitled "India and South Asia Since the 1700s," and her research focuses on the development of middle-class women's identities in Bengal in the late 19th century and early 20th century. During the course of this Fall 2009 semester, Dr. Amin will be presenting a number of talks related to her research (see "Upcoming Events" under "Events" tab for place and time of talks). We had a chance to sit down with Dr. Amin recently to discuss her personal and intellectual background, as well as recent developments in her native Bangladesh.
"We Bengalis are pretty liberal, despite living in a patriarchal society," Dr. Amin commented when thinking back to her childhood growing up in Dhaka. This comment might contrast with the image many Westerners have of Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country in South Asia, but Dr. Amin herself is a product of a postcolonial society that has witnessed many cultural, economic, and political transformations over the past several decades. As one of two daughters, with no brothers, Dr. Amin lived in a family where academics was emphasized. Her father was a scientist, and Dr. Amin recalls enjoying a rather independent childhood in a home that was open to artistic expression and creativity. Her sister was a singer, her mother a dancer.
After finishing her schooling, Dr. Amin went on to study at Dhaka University, where she earned her B.A. and M.A. It was not common for girls to pursue higher studies in Bangladesh at the time, so Dr. Amin applied for a scholarship to Cambridge, and upon receiving financial support, embarked on her first journey outside of South Asia. Dr. Amin studied history at Cambridge, but had to cut her studies short when she got married, much to the disappointment of her Cambridge professors. Dr. Amin moved with her new husband to Boston, but got back into academics after only a few months, enrolling in a masters program in Sociology at Northeastern University. After this, Dr. Amin decided to return to Bangladesh, where she landed up in Dhaka University again, this time to pursue a PhD in History.
How did Dr. Amin become interested in history? "Human society has always interested me," she tells, but it was not until a fortuitous and impactful encounter with the venerable Bengali historian Partha Chatterjee that Dr. Amin was able to crystallize in her mind a historical project that would go on to define her intellectual trajectory and career. On a trip to Calcutta, a friend recommended she meet with Professor Chatterjee, and the two met over tea at the latter's house. During the course of their conversation, Chatterjee posed to Dr. Amin the idea of researching the devlopment and history of modern Muslim gentry women in Bengal. What Chatterjee was proposing was a study of a neglected aspect of the Bengali Muslim renaissance, which was itself a subset of the Bengali renaissance that occured during the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. "Partha planted the seed," Dr. Amin recalls, as he urged her that "this is the time to tap into the living memory and history" of modern Muslim women in Bengal. This would become Dr. Amin's doctoral thesis, at a time when many thought gender history did not constitute a "real field" of study.
Dr. Amin acknowledges a debt to previous historians who wrote about modernization and women in Bengal. By focusing specifically on Muslim women, however, Dr. Amin's contribution to this literature is important. Noting the divergences in women's experiences due to religion, Dr. Amin schematized "three separate discourses of middle class women's subjectivity in colonial Bengal": Victorian (Anglo-Christian), Brahmo (Hindu), and Muslim. Each of these three discourses underwent profound changes at the turn of the century. With respect to Muslim women, Dr. Amin's intervention was dealing primarily with middle class identities, so it was not a "subaltern study" as such, even though Muslim women's histories were previously unwritten.
Dr. Amin still resides and teaches in Dhaka. When we asked her about current issues facing the country, Dr. Amin pointed out that "contemporary transformations in Bangladesh must be linked to the politics of South Asia." Part of this politics includes its recent history of relations with Pakistan and India, particularly Bangladesh's eventual independence from Pakistan in 1971. Noting the differences betwen Bangladesh and Pakistan, Dr. Amin tells us that "Bangladesh is less feudal, and the middle class is more assertive than it is in Pakistan." In addition, Bangladesh enjoys a very free and critical press, though recently newpapers have tended to focus on the workings of underground militant groups and their efforts to launch extremist, Islamist movements in the country. However, there is strong opposition to these obscurantist outfits, and the present regime is trying to neutralize these.
In general, Dr. Amin describes the political culture of Bangladesh as liberal and secular by and large. And unlike in India, there is no caste-system or Dalit issue, so that even though economic disparaties are vast, these are not caste-related in Bangladesh. Moreover, Bangladesh's economic realities are to a large extent defined by its "big neighbor," India. And like the big neighbor, "Bangladesh is entering the corporate age, with malls and CEOs, and the outer trappings of prosperity." But also like India, these outer appearances do little to mask the harsh realities that face the majority of people.
Politically, Bangladesh just held elections that were widely considered to be fair and free. It currently has a female head of state, Sheikh Hasina. As far as the condition of women in contemporary Bangladesh, Dr. Amin notes that patriarchal oppression of women has its roots not so much in Islam, but in South Asian culture and history more generally. Much progress has been made in recent years concerning women's rights, but much more needs to be done.
-By Rohan Kalyan (9/21/09)

Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa
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Phone: (808) 956-5652, Fax: (808) 956-6345, Email: csas@hawaii.edu

Featured News

"A Conversation with Visiting Professor Dr. Sonia Amin"

Professor Sonia Nishat Amin is the current Arthur Lynn Andrews Distinguished Visiting Professor at UH Manoa. She is visiting from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Dhaka. Currently, Dr. Amin is teaching a 300-level course in the Department of History entitled "India and South Asia Since the 1700s," and her research focuses on the development of middle-class women's identities in Bengal in the late 19th century and early 20th century. During the course of this Fall 2009 semester, Dr. Amin will be presenting a number of talks related to her research (see "Upcoming Events" under "Events" tab for place and time of talks). We had a chance to sit down with Dr. Amin recently to discuss her personal and intellectual background, as well as recent developments in her native Bangladesh.

"We Bengalis are pretty liberal, despite living in a patriarchal society," Dr. Amin commented when thinking back to her childhood growing up in Dhaka. This comment might contrast with the image many Westerners have of Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country in South Asia, but Dr. Amin herself is a product of a postcolonial society that has witnessed many cultural, economic, and political transformations over the past several decades. As one of two daughters, with no brothers, Dr. Amin lived in a family where academics was emphasized. Her father was a scientist, and Dr. Amin recalls enjoying a rather independent childhood in a home that was open to artistic expression and creativity. Her sister was a singer, her mother a dancer.

After finishing her schooling, Dr. Amin went on to study at Dhaka University, where she earned her B.A. and M.A. It was not common for girls to pursue higher studies in Bangladesh at the time, so Dr. Amin applied for a scholarship to Cambridge, and upon receiving financial support, embarked on her first journey outside of South Asia. Dr. Amin studied history at Cambridge, but had to cut her studies short when she got married, much to the disappointment of her Cambridge professors. Dr. Amin moved with her new husband to Boston, but got back into academics after only a few months, enrolling in a masters program in Sociology at Northeastern University. After this, Dr. Amin decided to return to Bangladesh, where she landed up in Dhaka University again, this time to pursue a PhD in History.

How did Dr. Amin become interested in history? "Human society has always interested me," she tells, but it was not until a fortuitous and impactful encounter with the venerable Bengali historian Partha Chatterjee that Dr. Amin was able to crystallize in her mind a historical project that would go on to define her intellectual trajectory and career. On a trip to Calcutta, a friend recommended she meet with Professor Chatterjee, and the two met over tea at the latter's house. During the course of their conversation, Chatterjee posed to Dr. Amin the idea of researching the devlopment and history of modern Muslim gentry women in Bengal. What Chatterjee was proposing was a study of a neglected aspect of the Bengali Muslim renaissance, which was itself a subset of the Bengali renaissance that occured during the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. "Partha planted the seed," Dr. Amin recalls, as he urged her that "this is the time to tap into the living memory and history" of modern Muslim women in Bengal. This would become Dr. Amin's doctoral thesis, at a time when many thought gender history did not constitute a "real field" of study.

Dr. Amin acknowledges a debt to previous historians who wrote about modernization and women in Bengal. By focusing specifically on Muslim women, however, Dr. Amin's contribution to this literature is important. Noting the divergences in women's experiences due to religion, Dr. Amin schematized "three separate discourses of middle class women's subjectivity in colonial Bengal": Victorian (Anglo-Christian), Brahmo (Hindu), and Muslim. Each of these three discourses underwent profound changes at the turn of the century. With respect to Muslim women, Dr. Amin's intervention was dealing primarily with middle class identities, so it was not a "subaltern study" as such, even though Muslim women's histories were previously unwritten.

Dr. Amin still resides and teaches in Dhaka. When we asked her about current issues facing the country, Dr. Amin pointed out that "contemporary transformations in Bangladesh must be linked to the politics of South Asia." Part of this politics includes its recent history of relations with Pakistan and India, particularly Bangladesh's eventual independence from Pakistan in 1971. Noting the differences betwen Bangladesh and Pakistan, Dr. Amin tells us that "Bangladesh is less feudal, and the middle class is more assertive than it is in Pakistan." In addition, Bangladesh enjoys a very free and critical press, though recently newpapers have tended to focus on the workings of underground militant groups and their efforts to launch extremist, Islamist movements in the country. However, there is strong opposition to these obscurantist outfits, and the present regime is trying to neutralize these.

In general, Dr. Amin describes the political culture of Bangladesh as liberal and secular by and large. And unlike in India, there is no caste-system or Dalit issue, so that even though economic disparaties are vast, these are not caste-related in Bangladesh. Moreover, Bangladesh's economic realities are to a large extent defined by its "big neighbor," India. And like the big neighbor, "Bangladesh is entering the corporate age, with malls and CEOs, and the outer trappings of prosperity." But also like India, these outer appearances do little to mask the harsh realities that face the majority of people.

Politically, Bangladesh just held elections that were widely considered to be fair and free. It currently has a female head of state, Sheikh Hasina. As far as the condition of women in contemporary Bangladesh, Dr. Amin notes that patriarchal oppression of women has its roots not so much in Islam, but in South Asian culture and history more generally. Much progress has been made in recent years concerning women's rights, but much more needs to be done.

-By Rohan Kalyan (9/21/09)