Mary N. Woods

Gandhi's independence movement brought many women into the public realm for the first time, inspiring the first women professionals in India and Sri Lanka to design for the new nation-state. It also mythologized women as Mother India, guardians of tradition. Theirs was, I argue, an indigenous modernism consonant with Gandhi's vision of craft and community and often at odds with western ideas of innovation, technology, and master architects. Accepted for publication by Zubaan Books, New Delhi, this is the first study of women architects and South Asian modernism. Uncovering this history of indigenous modernities is crucial for comprehending modern architecture in a global context.