Concordia Journal Home > Archives > March 18, 2010 issue >

ClassAction:Comparing and contrasting women’s lives in India and Canada 

By Anna Sarkissian

Women’s studies and English literature double-major Léa Woodbury has already been to India on her own. She backpacked around, saw the sights and negotiated for a rickshaw.

“I was mentally prepared to go back. But arriving at the airport in Delhi still hits you like a ton of bricks,” Woodbury said.

For two weeks this semester, Woodbury and 15 other students from various departments experienced the South Asian country in a new way.

Narrating Women’s Lives: India and Canada is an intensive three-credit course from the Simone de Beauvoir Institute in which students attended seminars, lectures, performances and creative writing workshops at the University of Delhi.

Assistant professor Rachel Berger from history and associate professor Chantal Maillé from the SdBI supervised the course, which offered “a live experience and understanding of varied dimensions of women and their lives across class, caste and culture” with comparisons between India and Canada.

Minoti Chaterjee, principal of Kamala Nehru College and her colleagues at the University of Delhi invited top academics to speak, whom Woodbury referred to as “the cream of the crop.”

“Hearing about history and experiences from women on the front lines of the movement was exceptional,” Berger said. “Sitting at home and reading about it is not the same as meeting the women who made it happen.”

During their down time, they visited the first school for women in Old Delhi. They travelled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and to Jaipur, known as the pink city for its rose-coloured buildings.

“I’ve never seen a group of students who were so careful about what travelling means. They were very conscientious about how they approached the city and the people they met,” Berger said.

Students were evaluated based on their attendance and participation plus a report, presentation, and post-India research project.

“It was really empowering. It pushed me to ask questions about myself,” Woodbury said, reflecting on her time there. “As funny as it may sound, I learned that I know things. It allowed me to find my voice in the classroom. I realized that that I have things to say and they’re valid.”

The organizers are grateful to William Cheaib, director of Concordia International, and Liselyn Adams, Associate Vice-President International Affairs, for their instrumental work organizing the exchange, in addition to Bina Freiwald, Jill Didur, Anjana Srivastava, Geetesh Nirmal, Namita Paul, Malashri Lal and Sukrit Pal Kumar.

A 10-week summer program is in the works offering a full semester worth of classes drawn from various departments at the Vivekananda Institute for India Studies in the southern city of Mysore. The program, offered in conjunction with Mount Allison University, should be ready by 2011.