Resisting and reinscribing the separation of spheres in the counter-narratives of 19th century lady travellers to colonial India

Abstract

 This study explores three counter-narratives written by British women between 1822 and 1842 to disclose the non-conformist manner in which they wrote about their travel experiences in colonial India. In considering a small number of women travellers who took this approach to narrating their experiences, a key objective of this thesis is to understand why the women positioned their writing as such. Throughout the 19th century, women in Britain faced excessive restrictions on their social, personal and professional lives. Their exposure was often determined by their fathers or husbands. However, with the growth of the British colonial system, travel opened up new possibilities. The East India Company, specifically, needed civil servants and women often travelled with their male relatives on this colonial mission. After considering how the concept of separate spheres attempted to restrict Victorian women in general, and in particular how women travellers were viewed, each counter-narrative is analysed based on a range of discourses that were in conflict during the period. The writers form a varied group, travelling and living across different parts of India, with a diverse range of opinions. Fanny Parkes is outspoken in her criticism of British preconceptions of Indian women, portraying them as powerful and strong-willed; Isabella Fane tires of the restrictions placed on her and successfully transgresses boundaries of normative female behaviour; while Emily Eden differentiates her writing by condemning the British colonial system itself. Each account records an aspect of political or cultural opposition to established discourses circulating at the time, and reflects the broad change in British colonial thought.