Writing Rokeya: Muslim Women’s Life-Writing, Intergenerational Camaraderie and Activism in Twentieth Century Bengal

Abstract

This paper showcases how the intersubjective is at the heart of women’s associations through Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s nurturance and support of younger colleagues in colonial Bengal. Arguing that individual memory can be constitutive of institutional history/identity, it focuses on Shamsunnahar Mahmud’s Rokeya Jibani (1937), the first ‘official’ biography of Rokeya, and Sufia Kamal’s memoir, Ekale Amader Kal (1988), both of which posit Rokeya as a foremother to women’s movements of the time and inscribe her within a silsila (chain) of activist women who are sources of inspiration to successive generations. It also explores how Mahmud and Kamal emulate and extend Rokeya’s paradigm of multigenerational sorority.