'I now have ar̄ivu [knowledge] which dispels fears': Instabilities in What it Means to 'Know' and the Effects of Tamil Political Party and Civil Society Intellectuals on Rural Women's Discourses

Kalpana Ram describes the impact of Tamil Political Party and Civil Society Intellectuals on rural women's discourses. The general consensus among scholars is that the more radical side of the Self Respect movement was gradually overtaken by the politics of nationalism. Tamil Nadu politics has allocated an explicit and highly-developed role for intellectuals. Some women claimed that as 'educated women' they would definitely ensure that their daughters received instruction. Sometimes they would even set up distinctions between themselves and their mothers' generation, all of which led Kalpana to expect a modern version of education. The women Kalpana spoke to in Tamil Nadu move from one definition of knowledge to another, and sometimes use both simultaneously without finding any contradiction. The binary construction of modernity has received a sustained critique over recent decades, with postcolonial and feminist critiques considerably complicating our notions about progress and reform.