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{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2019}}
{{short description|Book by Radha Kumar}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The History of Doing
| author = [[Radha Kumar]], Photo Research by [[Kali for Women]]
| language = English
| country = India
| published = 1993
| isbn = 9780860914556
| genre = Non-fiction
| subject = Women's rights
| image = File:The History of Doing cover.PNG
| caption = Cover of 8th edition
}}
'''''The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India 1800–1990''''' is a book by [[Radha Kumar]].<ref name=":4">Patel, Tulsi. ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23619666 Sociological Bulletin: Reviewed Work: The History of Doing]'', vol. 44, no. 2, 1995, pp. 277–279. ''JSTOR''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penguin.co.in/author/radha-kumar/|title=Radha Kumar|publisher=[[Penguin India]]|access-date=2019-11-07}}</ref> First published in 1993 in New Delhi by [[Kali for Women]] after a Norwegian organisation's grant of [[Rupee|Rs]] 1.4 [[lakh]], and later published by [[Zubaan Books|Zubaan]] (an imprint of [[Kali for Women|Kali]]) and [[Verso Books|Verso]], the illustrated book is "a brief interpretative history of women's movements in India from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the present day", as the first line of the introduction concisely conveys.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/words-for-women-by-women/cid/1409745|title=Words for women, by women|last=Bhattacharya|first=Chandrima S.|date=1 February 2018|website=Telegraph India|access-date=2019-11-05}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

Divided into 12 chapters and four other sections—dedication, acknowledgements, conclusion and index—the original edition of the book spans 203 pages.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdoingil00kuma|title=The history of doing : an illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India, 1800-1990 /|last=Kumar|first=Radha|date=1993|publisher=Verso|others=Stanford Libraries|isbn=9780860914556|location=London|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>Radha Kumar (1993). ''The History of Doing: [http://www.gbv.de/dms/mpib-toc/637011317.pdf Contents].'' Retrieved from ''GBV Common Library Network'' on 7 November 2019.</ref> The book can broadly be distinguished into two main parts, women in India during time of the [[British Empire]] and then the period after India gained [[Independence Day (India)|independence]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socrev/1994/sr177/ashman.html|title=The History of Doing|date=July 1994|publisher=www.marxists.org|work=Socialist Review|access-date=2019-11-07}}</ref>

According to a book review in ''[[Socialist Review]]'', "What makes the book more intriguing is the way it is broken up with copies of leaflets, reprints of posters, boxes with the life histories of some of the women involved and lots of pictures of activities."<ref name=":2" /> The pictures of protesting women tells a story in itself and is a peek into "what the liberating power of mass activity means."<ref name=":2" /> Tulsi Patel{{Efn|Tulsi Patel from the Department of Sociology in [[Jamia Milia Islamia]]<ref name=":4" />|name=|group=}} notes the same in the ''Sociological Bulletin''{{Efn|''Sociological Bulletin'' is the official journal of the [[Indian Sociological Society]] currently published by [[SAGE Publishing|SAGE]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/home/sob|title=Sociological Bulletin|website=SAGE Journals|language=en|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref>|name=|group=}} about the [[visual anthropology]] in her review of the book, adding that the book is enriched by photographs, bills, debates and other issues put inside the boxes.<ref name=":4" />

== Description ==
Kumar raises important issues about the women's movement in India and the kind of issues the movement has taken up such as [[Sati (practice)|sati]], child marriage, domestic violence, remarriage, girl education, rape, dowries, women in politics, health and environmental destruction as well as the directions and perspectives it has taken.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19930831-book-review-radha-kumar-history-of-doing-811470-1993-08-31|title=Book review: Radha Kumar's 'The History of Doing'|last=Pandey|first=Ira|date=31 August 1993|newspaper=[[India Today]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105103903/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19930831-book-review-radha-kumar-history-of-doing-811470-1993-08-31|archive-date=5 November 2019|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Basu|first=Aparna|date=1994-03-01|title=Book Reviews : Radha Kumar, The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1900. New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1993. 203 pages. Rs. 350|journal=Bulletin (Centre for Women's Development Studies)|language=en|volume=1|issue=1|pages=139–141|doi=10.1177/097152159400100112|issn=0970-5899}}</ref> She gives counter-arguments and differences to the claim that the women's movement in India is an unnecessary import from the West<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review-cultural-baggage-the-history-of-doing-an-illustrated-account-of-movements-for-womens-1395265.html|title=BOOK REVIEW / Cultural baggage: The history of doing: An Illustrated|last=Khan|first=Naseem|date=20 February 1994|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107030033/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review-cultural-baggage-the-history-of-doing-an-illustrated-account-of-movements-for-womens-1395265.html|archive-date=7 November 2019|access-date=2019-11-07}}</ref> and also discuses the effect of [[population control]] and changes in the [[Caste|caste system]] on Indian women.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Tulsi Patel, from the Department of Sociology in [[Jamia Millia Islamia|Jamia Milia Islamia]], notes how the book surveys "campaigns, organizations and personalities in the light of the issues that become prominent in different contexts."<ref name=":4" />
[[File:Madame Cama with Stuttgart Flag1907.jpg|thumb|209x209px|[[Bhikaiji Cama|Bhikaji Cama]] with the Stuttgart flag,{{Efn|The Stuttgart flag refers to the "Flag of Indian Independence" raised by Bhikhaiji Cama on 22 August 1907, at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany.|name=|group=}} 1907. The image can be found on page 46 of the book.]]
Kumar notes how during the 19th century India was flooded with social reform influences and internal change was taking place. The position of a woman in all aspects was being discussed; by men at the forefront too. [[Child marriage in India|Child marriage]], the ban on the [[remarriage]] of widows, the practice of [[Sati (practice)|sati]], girl education all needed addressing by society; and addressed they were.<ref name=":0" /> Landmark instances are elaborated such as that of [[Rukhmabai|Rakhmabai]] and her legal case of her marriage as a [[child bride]]; wherein she refused to obey the appeal courts decision against her in 1884, preferred paying the hefty fine and went on to become a doctor from England; after which she came back to India and continued practicing medicine.<ref name=":0" /> Another case elaborated on during the time of British rule is it that of the sharecroppers' movement in the 1940s where women in the thousands were active in the protests. She also notes how some women joined guerilla armies.<ref name=":2" />

She points out how things changed a lot after Independence. Women understood well that their needs and wants were not being taken notice of by lawmakers. The 1970s saw various women's movements like those against the sale of alcohol at village level and larger campaigns against sati, dowry deaths and rape.<ref name=":0" /> Kumar describes personal experiences such as the shock of coming face to face with an orthodox Hindu protest, with many women part of it, in favour of sati.<ref name=":2" /> Upasana Mahanta writes in the [[Economic and Political Weekly|''EPW'']] that Radha Kumar's book "records the ways in which ordinary women rework traditional practices to their advantage negotiating "concessions" from husbands, families, communities and so on that were otherwise not accessible to them."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mahanta|first=Upasana|last2=Bharadwaj|first2=Gargi|date=2015-06-05|title=Does Feminist Historiography Have An Emancipatory Potential?|url=https://www.epw.in/engage/article/does-feminist-historiography-have-emancipatory-potential|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|language=en|pages=7–8}}</ref>

Since publication the book has been widely read and has become a part of syllabi readings for a PG Diploma Women's Empowerment, [[Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University|GGS Indraprastha University]], as well as in the Women's Studies Centre for a PG Diploma in Women's Studies.<ref>(2015) [http://ipu.ac.in/ushss/syllabusPGDWE240715.pdf ''Scheme of Examination & Syllabi'']. GGS Indraprastha University. New Delhi.</ref><ref>[http://www.srtmun.ac.in/images/PermanentData/WomansStudyCenter24062019/5Syllabus.pdf Women’s studies centre: Syllabus] pg 12. Retrieved on 7 November 2019</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* ''[[Library of Congress]]'' catalog [https://lccn.loc.gov/93905816 entry]
* ''Library of Australia'' catalog [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10684045 entry]
== External links ==

* [https://archive.org/details/historyofdoingil00kuma The History of Doing] on [[Internet Archive|Archive.org]]
* [https://books.google.co.in/books?id=68xTBT1-H4IC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false The History of Doing] on [[Google Books|Google books]]
* The History of Doing, [http://dart.columbia.edu/library/DART-0012/against_sati.pdf Chapter 11], pp 172 to 181

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Doing, The}}
[[Category:Books by Indian authors]]
[[Category:Indian non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Feminism in India]]
[[Category:Women in India]]
[[Category:Feminist theory]]
[[Category:1993 non-fiction books]]

The History of Doing - Revision history

imported>Qwerfjkl: Removed 'a(n)' from the beginning of the short description per WP:SDFORMAT, from a request at Wikipedia:Reward board#Remove "A" as the first word from short descriptions. (via WP:JWB)