Contested Virtue: Imperial Women’s Crisis with Colonized Womanhood

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the mutual relations between Indian and British women during the colonial period. Concentrating mainly on the period of 18th and 19th century when Nautch as a form of entertainment and interaction was popular among the natives and the sahibs, the paper tends to focus on the ways how specifically the art of nautch and native womanhood at large was viewed under the light of racism and imperialism. How the imperial women reacted to the native culture and native women’s sexuality forms the central theme of the paper. The concept of imperial gaze is explained with the help of narratives as well as visuals.