Urvashi Butalia
Encyclopedia
Urvashi Butalia is an India
n feminist and historian
. She is the Director and Co-founder of Kali for Women
, India's first feminist publishing house.
Butalia was born in Ambala
India in 1952. She was the third of four children of Joginder Singh Butalia and Subadhra Butalia. She earned a B.A.
in literature from Miranda House
, Delhi University in 1971, a Masters
in literature from Delhi University in 1973, and a Masters in South Asian Studies from the University of London
in 1977.
She worked as an editor for Zed Publishing and later went on to set up her own publishing house. Her writing has appeared in several newspapers including The Guardian
, The Statesman
, The Times of India
and several magazines including Outlook, the New Internationalist and India Today. Butalia is a consultant for Oxfam
India and she holds the position of Reader at the College of Vocational Studies at the University of Delhi. Her main areas of research are partition and oral histories. She has also written on gender
, communalism
, fundamentalism
and media
.
She is also a well-known columnist for a B2B publication dealing with the print and publishing industry - Indian Printer and Publisher.
Recently, she was also conferred a Padmashree by for her contribution to the nation.
Urvashi Butalia started Zubaan, a renowned publishing house in 2003. Zubaan is an imprint of Kali for Women.
Butalia's book is widely taught in classes in anthropology, South Asian literature, and Women's Studies classes. The work is based on the fact that the Partition occurred in the shadow of the independence of Pakistan
and India
in 1947, and resulted in the largest mass-migration in human history. Twelve million people relocated in the course of a few months, and in the violence that accompanied the dislocation of so many, about 1 million people were killed. Butalia points out that the Partition is, like the holocaust, still very much a "living history", in the sense that many survivors are still around and can be interviewed. In contrast to the many projects that have undertaken the documentation of oral histories of the Holocaust, however, no comparable initiative has been undertaken in India.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n feminist and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. She is the Director and Co-founder of Kali for Women
Kali for Women
Kali for Women was an important start-up feminist publisher in India. Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon set up Kali for Women in 1984, arguably the first Indian publishing house dedicated to publishing on and for women. When they decided to take this step, Butalia had worked with Oxford University...
, India's first feminist publishing house.
Butalia was born in Ambala
Ambala
Ambala is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt and Ambala City, approximately 3 kilometers apart from each other...
India in 1952. She was the third of four children of Joginder Singh Butalia and Subadhra Butalia. She earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in literature from Miranda House
Miranda House
Miranda House , is a highly renowned and distinguished constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. It is widely regarded as a Premier Women's Institution of Delhi University offering degrees in the Sciences and Liberal Arts . Miranda House has demonstrated academic...
, Delhi University in 1971, a Masters
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in literature from Delhi University in 1973, and a Masters in South Asian Studies from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
in 1977.
She worked as an editor for Zed Publishing and later went on to set up her own publishing house. Her writing has appeared in several newspapers including The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The Statesman
The Statesman
The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. The Statesman is owned by The Statesman Ltd., its headquarters at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Calcutta and its national...
, The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
and several magazines including Outlook, the New Internationalist and India Today. Butalia is a consultant for Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
India and she holds the position of Reader at the College of Vocational Studies at the University of Delhi. Her main areas of research are partition and oral histories. She has also written on gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, communalism
Communalism
Communalism is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'These include "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". "the principles and practice of communal ownership"...
, fundamentalism
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
and media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
.
She is also a well-known columnist for a B2B publication dealing with the print and publishing industry - Indian Printer and Publisher.
Recently, she was also conferred a Padmashree by for her contribution to the nation.
Urvashi Butalia started Zubaan, a renowned publishing house in 2003. Zubaan is an imprint of Kali for Women.
Kali for Women
Kali for Women, India's first women's publishing house, is concerned primarily with publishing Third World studies on women. Kali was set up in 1984 as a trust to increase the body of knowledge on women in the Third World, to give voice to such knowledge as already exists, and to provide a forum for women writers, creative and academics.The Other Side of Silence
The Other Side of Silence has been one of the most influential books in South Asian studies of the past decade. The book is the product of more than seventy interviews Butalia conducted with survivors of the Partition, and emphasises particularly the role of violence against women in the collective experience of the tragedy.Butalia's book is widely taught in classes in anthropology, South Asian literature, and Women's Studies classes. The work is based on the fact that the Partition occurred in the shadow of the independence of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1947, and resulted in the largest mass-migration in human history. Twelve million people relocated in the course of a few months, and in the violence that accompanied the dislocation of so many, about 1 million people were killed. Butalia points out that the Partition is, like the holocaust, still very much a "living history", in the sense that many survivors are still around and can be interviewed. In contrast to the many projects that have undertaken the documentation of oral histories of the Holocaust, however, no comparable initiative has been undertaken in India.