Kumudini Welfare Trust: An Intimate History of Gender, Care and Capital in Post-Partition Bengal edited by Nabamita Das and Suhrita Saha
Kumudini Welfare Trust: An Intimate History of Gender, Care and Capital in Post-Partition Bengal
EDITORS- Nabamita Das and Suhrita Saha
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INFORMATION
- EDITORS : Nabamita Das and Suhrita Saha
- HB ISBN : 978-93-7179-630-9
- Year : 2026
- Extent : 276
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Kumudini Welfare Trust traces the intimate history of one of the oldest welfare organizations in Bangladesh, founded in the aftermath of Partition and sustained through the labour of women. Drawing on ethnographic research at Mirzapur, Narayanganj and Dhaka, the chapters explore how care, work, memory and the market are woven into the daily rhythms of the Trust’s hospitals, schools and workshops.
The chapter presented in this volume collectively explore the intricate and evolving relationship that the Trust has maintained with the socio-political landscape of Bangladesh. Kumudini has continuously adapted to the country’s historical shifts—most notably the violence and transformation brought about by the Liberation War of 1971. This also marked the recalibration of Kumudini’s identity in a nation irrevocably changed by trauma, displacement, and the challenge of constructing a national consciousness. Moving between archival fragments, life stories and the textures of Nakshikantha embroidery, the volume shows how a women-led institution negotiated displacement, capital and governance while holding together an ethic of care with an ethic of justice. It invites readers to rethink familiar binaries of public and private, charity and enterprise, tradition and modernity post-Partition.
The Editors
Nabamita Das is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Presidency University, Kolkata. Her research spans gender and sexuality studies, the philosophy of the everyday, intimate relations and childhood studies, with a sustained engagement with Rabindranath Tagore. Her recent publications include a chapter on ‘Modernity and Motherhood’ in a book titled Women in Bengal and an article titled ‘Between Speaking and Writing: The Limits of Modernity in Tagore’s Poetry’.
Suhrita Saha is Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at Presidency University. With a teaching career of over twenty-five years, her early research examined globalization and the rise of Hindu nationalism in India. Her current interests include work, consumption and leisure; the Bengali intellectual tradition; and object histories. She is the author of two books and has published in various journals.