Born out of feminist struggles to reclaim historical spaces, feminist histories have questioned the invisibility of women in ‘male-centred’ history. Women are absent in history because of lack of power in ‘knowledge creation’. It has resulted in the growth of a historical consciousness that has ignored women’s rich contribution to the shaping of human societies. Criticising conventional historiography for ignoring the contributions of women, feminist historians have sought to recreate women’s histories. Apart from reinterpreting existing historical evidence to reveal the hidden world of women, they have also searched for new sources and techniques to find women in history. The search is important because conventional historiography has consistently ignored women’s historical voices. Rejecting altogether the monologue of official history, feminist historians have preferred to hear the cadence of many voices in history. These voices may not always resonate with each other and may often be heard as discordant notes, but the very discordance may well reveal the rich fabric of women’s lives.
Feminist Historical Quest
The paucity of historical sources to recreate women’s lives poses a serious challenge to feminist historiography. In search of women’s historical past, feminist historians have searched for nuggets of historical information in the musty tomes of conventional archives. They have also searched for new sources of history in private papers, diaries, memoirs and other published and unpublished papers preserved in dark, dank corners of the home or in organizations for women. However, since these written records are few and far between they leave gaps in our historical knowledge. It is particularly so, because women’s writings, however, are often constrained by what can be spoken and what may not without upsetting the existing family, kinship and social relationships: For to write from the depth of their lived experiences may also invite family and social censure. In addition, feminist historiography has also sought women’s historical voices through oral histories, life histories and in oral traditions. These techniques challenge accepted sources of history and question the nature of historical “truths.”
In Search of Sources
The search for historical sources raises an allied concern about archival materials; especially about the preservation of sources that reveal the histories of women from subaltern communities. The search for archival materials is not confined to collecting, preserving and cataloguing official records (which no doubt is an important source of history) but also involves a search for historical sources from the private papers of men and women in the forgotten corners of the attic and family albums, etc. It also requires a search for journals, newsletters and newspaper articles which may shed light on not just political lives and events but also other socio-cultural aspects of human histories. New archival sources present unique challenges of cataloguing and preservation to archivists as well.
Conference Objectives
In order to explore and investigate the exciting world of women’s histories, this conference invites papers, presentations and posters from scholars, students, social activists and archivists who have been working on women’s histories and creating archives using conventional and innovative techniques/sources. Undoubtedly, since the first stirrings of the new women’s movement, the challenges of writing women’s histories have been discussed; and yet there are tantalizing new questions that need to be asked. This conference is an attempt to reflect and identify emerging research areas as well as methodological and epistemological concerns of writing women’s histories and recovering/preserving historical records in the 21st century.
