Gender, Power, and Cricket Spectators in Calcutta, 1960s-1990s

Naha, Souvik

Abstract

Historians of modern India have emphasized the reflexivity of men and women in the making of womanhood, paying attention to notions of gender difference emerging from both primordial, restrictive codes of behaviour and contrarian impulses towards what was popularly called progress. There have been relatively few attempts to trace gender interaction in outdoor leisure activities, public displays of femininity, and male regulatory anxieties in the post-colonial context. By studying the symbolism of women's presence in the Eden Gardens, the international cricket stadium in Calcutta, from the 1960s to the 1990s, this article reflects on the nature of power, authority, and gender hierarchy in urban Indian society. This study of questions of gender hierarchy, women's mannerisms, social identity, and informal resistance through a historical lens will enable us to understand the trajectory of women's outsider status in urban public spaces. Through a reading of the mediated parti pris impressions of female spectators, it will also map the transition in society's approach to sport from a structured homosocial community activity to a relatively unstructured field of shared experience.

Citation

Naha, S. (2022). Gender, Power, and Cricket Spectators in Calcutta, 1960s-1990s. Historical Journal, 65(3), 774-796. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x21000406

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 15, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 5, 2021
• Journal: Historical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0018-246X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-5103
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 65
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 774-796
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x21000406
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1278470