Educating Activists

This accessible, richly textured ethnography illuminates the cultural shaping of development and modernity in the context of a remarkable Gandhian program for women and girls that, since 1946, has engaged with issues of sustainability, gender equity, and poverty in Himalayan India. It blends memories, stories and historical research to analyze how rural women have drawn inspiration, in sometimes surprising ways, from Gandhi, as they have sought to confront new environmental and social challenges.

Rebecca Klenk

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 I: Developed Women Chapter 3 1: Educating Modern Gandhians: Lakshmi Ashram and its Mission Chapter 4 2: "Who is the Developed Woman?" Part 5 II: "Sarala Devi's Daughters" Chapter 6 3: Lakshmi Ashram's First Generation Chapter 7 4: Samaj Seva Chapter 8 5: "What's All This Gandhi-Gandhi About?" Lakshmi Ashram's Second Generation Part 9 III: Development, Place, and Possible Futures Chapter 10 6: A Place on Fire