Beyond Tokenism and Exoticism: British Women in the Native Literature (1858-1947)
Ritushree Rudra
Delhi University
Abstract
This paper primarily examines the imagery of British women in Colonized Literature from 1858 to 1947 to demonstrate that their portrayal was not limited to tokens of difference or seen solely as exotic figures. Moving beyond the memsahibs as exotic symbols and markers of difference reveals a complex, layered persona, as interpreted through five texts discussed in this article: Nil Darpan (1859) by Dinabandhu Mitra, Inglonde Bango Mahila (1885) by Krishnabhabini Devi, A Visit to Europe (1902) by Trailokyanath Mukerjee, Ghare Baire (1916) by Rabindranath Tagore, and India Calling (1935) by Cornelia Sorabji. By exploring themes beyond exoticism and tokenism, this article also highlights how the representation of British women in Colonized Literature is redefined, with stereotypical notions surrounding the memsahibs being continually challenged and questioned.
Keywords – Exoticism, Tokenism, British Women, Native Literature, Colonial Period
| Funding: No funding was received for this research and publication. Conflicts of Interest: The author declared no conflicts of interest. Article History: Received: January 2, 2025. Revised: August 26, 2025. Accepted: September 20, 2025. First published: September 28, 2025. Copyright: © 2025 by the author/s. License: Critical Gender Studies Network (CGSN), India. Distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published by: Critical Gender Studies Network (CGSN) Citation: Rudra, R. (2025). Beyond Tokenism and Exoticism: British Women in the Native Literature (1858-1947). Critical Gender Studies Journal. 2(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.21659/cgsj.v2n1.07 |
