Book Chapters by Aparna Eswaran
India Migration Report 2023 Student Migration Edited By S Irudaya Rajan, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the mobility of students in Kerala, India, in unexpected and dive... more The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the mobility of students in Kerala, India, in unexpected and diverse ways, which in turn impacted their aspirations. This chapter examines the effects of the pandemic on student migration, return and the formation and realisation of educational aspirations. Through in-depth interviews, the study explores the challenges faced by students during the pandemic. This chapter specifically focused on the repercussions of the first wave of the pandemic, excruciating in the uncertainties it produced, by analysing how the respondents reflected on this earlier period of the pandemic as well as formulated strategies of survival in its aftermath, with most of the uncertainties following them into the second wave of the pandemic. The findings reveal that the pandemic led to a range of restrictions, hampering not only physical mobility but also the aspirational mobility of students. The study sheds light on the complex intersections of personal, collective and normative dimensions of aspiration and mobility in the context of a global health crisis.
Sparsham, 2021
Critical Reading of V.M Girija's book 'Sparsham' (Touch) published in the book
Papers by Aparna Eswaran
South Asian Review, 2020
In the three decade long civil war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government terrible atroci... more In the three decade long civil war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government terrible atrocities were committed on the minority Tamil community by both the parties involved. This period of Tamil nationalism saw constructions of Tamil nation which were grounded on the construction of an ideal "Tamil Woman." The period also witnessed a variety of cultural responses, including those by women poets. This paper broadly tries to elucidate how poetry was used to act as a witness to the experiences of the Tamil women during the Sri Lankan Civil War and how they responded to the Tamil nation making process. This paper will argue that the witnessing of war is "gendered" as can be evidenced in the critical reading of poetry written by Tamil women in Sri Lanka. Specifically the paper will look at how the figure of the mother has been used in this gendered witnessing. Different kinds of motherhoods were mobilized in Sri Lanka through the course of the war, namely the valiant mother who encourages her children to die for the country, the suffering mother and the mother who resists power for the sake of her children. One of the key constructs of women in Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka was of the figure of the "Veerathayar"the brave mother, who is the reproducer of the nation. In the context of a war fought over competing nationalisms, the figure of Veerathayar was constructed through reimaginations of the mythic characters from the old legends and classics. A much more radical positioning of the mother figure was seen in the 1980s with the construct of "social motherhood." Even though social motherhood appealed to the naturalized and essentialized construction of women as mothers, it also revealed the transgressions of the Sri Lankan State and the LTTE which otherwise valorized the nurturance role of mothers. Set against this context, the paper will examine how the figure of the "mother" has been used by Tamil women in their poetry to write their experience of the conflict. This is done through a critical reading of their poetry by giving attention to the ways through which they have used the construct of mother to subvert the dominant notions of being an ideal "Tamil Woman" as perpetuated by Tamil nationalism.
Economic and Political Weekly , 2021
In light of the recent announcement by the minister for Hindu religious and charitable endowments... more In light of the recent announcement by the minister for Hindu religious and charitable endowments for Tamil Nadu regarding the government’s willingness to facilitate resources and training for women who wish to be priests in temples, the article examines the debates regarding the right of women to Hindu religious realm by revisiting the political episode of women’s
assertion of their constitutional
right to enter the Sabarimala
temple in the neighbouring
state of Kerala as well as
the gendered dimensions of
situating the protests within the
larger histories of the self-respect
movement and navodhanam.
INEQUALITY AND PLURALITY: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY , 2023
A report of the recent panel discussion held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University that explores the... more A report of the recent panel discussion held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University that explores the phenomenon of sexual violence in educational spaces. Sexual harrasment by the faculty, intimate partner violence, and repression of the sexuality of women on campus are some of the issues deliberated upon. The panelists call for the revival of a strong and vibrant women's movement to counter deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes on campus.
Economic and Political Weekly, May 27, 2013
Book Reviews by Aparna Eswaran
book review 'Viewing Migration Through the Gender-Ide Refugee Watch: A South Asian Journal on Forced Migration
Contributions to Indian Sociology
Uploads
Book Chapters by Aparna Eswaran
Papers by Aparna Eswaran
assertion of their constitutional
right to enter the Sabarimala
temple in the neighbouring
state of Kerala as well as
the gendered dimensions of
situating the protests within the
larger histories of the self-respect
movement and navodhanam.
Book Reviews by Aparna Eswaran
assertion of their constitutional
right to enter the Sabarimala
temple in the neighbouring
state of Kerala as well as
the gendered dimensions of
situating the protests within the
larger histories of the self-respect
movement and navodhanam.