Women of Agency: the Penned Thoughts of Bengali Muslim Women Writers of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Abstract from thesis introduction.
"The following thesis will trace the important voices of Bengali Muslim Women Writers. Following an extensive background that describes the world in which these women were situated, provided in Chapter 2, the world views of three Bengali Muslim authors will be analyzed through an analysis of their literary works. The analysis of the life and works of Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein, the beacon for the Awakening of Bengali Muslim Women, (Chapter 3) will be followed by chapters on the life and work of Shamsunnahar Mahmud and Sufia Kamal (Chapter 4), proteges of Rokeya, Chapter 5 will trace the lives of Fazilatunnesa and Mahmuda Khatun Siddiqua Bengali Muslim women writers and reformers whose personal lives showed that writing and agency were not necessarily correlated with religious belief. Issues of education and social work, religion, and political representation will be the themes that guide the analysis of the works of each of these women writers, highlighting the importance of such topics in the lives of Bengali Muslim women of the late 19th and early 20th century. The analysis of the lives and works of these Bengali Muslim women writers will also demonstrate how these Bengali Muslim women reclaimed their identity and reemphasized their agency."