| ID | 161151 |
| Title Proper | Women will have to fight this battle’: political prisoners under India’s Emergency, 1975–1977 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Scott, Gemma |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | During India’s infamous period of Emergency (1975–1977), Indira Gandhi’s government criminalised opposition and used preventive detention legislation extensively to repress dissent. Existing scholarship on this policy and on the Emergency more broadly pays little attention to women’s experiences. This paper draws on a unique collection of letters sent to and from female political prisoners in Maharashtra, exploring their experiences of incarceration under this regime. It offers new insights into the scale on which authorities detained women in this state and highlights ways that these political prisoners actively resisted Emergency rule. The paper also challenges the idea that the prison was an entirely repressive space for the Emergency’s detenues. These letters document attempts to exert agency over constructions of the prison space, highlight its permeable boundaries and reveal lively communities and cultures of resistance. |
| `In' analytical Note | Contemporary South Asia Vol. 26, No.3; Sep 2018: p.270-286 |
| Journal Source | Contemporary South Asia Vol: 26 No 3 |
| Key Words | Women ; Political prisoner ; Resistance ; Maharashtra ; Indian Emergency |