Returning The American Gaze: Pandita Ramabai’s ‘the Peoples Of The United States’ (1889)

Born into a Brahmin family and widowed as a young woman, Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) has increasingly come to be recognised as one of India’s earliest spokeswomen for women’s causes and rights, specifically in relation to education and the status of widows. In the 1880s, Pandita Ramabai travelled from India to England and on to the United States, where she spent three years immersed in the milieu of social reform movements of the day. The Peoples of the United States is Pandita Ramabai’s response to and critique of American life, including the country’s government, economy, education and domestic life.