Women as Battlegrounds: A Critical Discourse Analysis on the Notion of Gender in Ethnicity during the Indian Constituent Assembly Debates on Abducted Women

During the partition, more than twelve million people crossed the border to reach Pakistan or India, soon communal violence roared in which women, out of revenge and hatred, became the victim of sexual violence at the hands of the other ethnic community. One of the major issues plaguing women was the widespread abductions of women by men from the other ethnic community in which many women were stuck on the other side of the border. Soon after, an interdominion agreement was drafted to recover abducted women from Pakistan to India and vice versa. In 1949 this agreement was discussed again to be renewed and possibly amended. The Constituent Assembly transcript of this debate that lasted for four days has been used to investigate through critical discourse analysis which roles of women within ethnicity are reproduced and to what extent. This thesis has used the framework from Anthias and Yuval-Davis to define those roles. Women's roles as boundaries, signifiers of difference, and...Show moreDuring the partition, more than twelve million people crossed the border to reach Pakistan or India, soon communal violence roared in which women, out of revenge and hatred, became the victim of sexual violence at the hands of the other ethnic community. One of the major issues plaguing women was the widespread abductions of women by men from the other ethnic community in which many women were stuck on the other side of the border. Soon after, an interdominion agreement was drafted to recover abducted women from Pakistan to India and vice versa. In 1949 this agreement was discussed again to be renewed and possibly amended. The Constituent Assembly transcript of this debate that lasted for four days has been used to investigate through critical discourse analysis which roles of women within ethnicity are reproduced and to what extent. This thesis has used the framework from Anthias and Yuval-Davis to define those roles. Women's roles as boundaries, signifiers of difference, and biological reproducers become highly visible in the debate and most of all point to one issue: the lack of autonomy and representation of the voices of abducted women. Moreover, while the distinct roles of Anthias and Yuval-Davis are helpful, they lack a relational approach to the prescribed roles of women and men.Show less

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Women as Battlegrounds: A Critical Discourse Analysis on the Notion of Gender in Ethnicity during the Indian Constituent Assembly Debates on Abducted Women