ABSTRACT
Women’s and gender studies (WGS) is at a critical juncture in India today. What is at stake is its very survival as an ethically charged practice of knowledge. The old ways of doing things will no longer serve, not if the aim is for WGS to remain what it was always meant to be: a driver and catalyst for discursive and social transformation. The challenge for WGS, therefore, is to take honest stock of the situation and remap its course, if not its causes. This chapter is a review of these concerns. In looking back, it seeks to assess the evolving role of the dominant factors that have influenced and/or controlled the women’s and gender studies narrative in India so far. Since current conditions, if used well, are rich with possibilities, the essay in closing will not only flag significant issues plaguing WGS but also point to desirable workarounds for them with an eye to the future.
