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Abstract

This project investigates the crucial moment of social transformation of the colonized Bengali society in the nineteenth century and focuses on Bengali women's writings to explore their take on European women and societies. Both colonial and colonized women have been secondary stakeholders of colonialism. However, due to the power asymmetry, colonial woman have found themselves in a relatively advantageous position to form perspectives and generate voluminous discourse on the colonized women. The research uses that as the point of departure and tries to shed light on the other side of the divide, where Bengali women use the residual freedom and colonial reforms to hone their gaze and form their perspectives on their western counterparts.