Towards a History of the Female Body in British Colonial Punjab (1885-1947)

British colonial medicine in the princely states of Punjab in the late 19th and early 20th century was not exactly confrontational; rather, native people - especially women - were at the forefront of practicing British medicine: running hospitals, providing grants, and writing journals. However, since this was a time of ideological battle between western values and religious nationalism in Punjab, women were often deployed to represent one of the two. I am interested in studying the impact of British colonial medicine and religious nationalism on women's bodies: on their perceptions and experiences of their bodies (1885-1947). I want to analyse what happened to women's bodies and embodied personhood as they began practicing medicine and spending nights in hospitals in a highly patriarchal society. Through this study, I hope to uncover the lives of brilliant women - doctors, nurses, compounders - who lived through a very turbulent time in history.