The Empire Strikes Back: Postcolonialism and Colorism in Indian Women

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Undergraduate Honors Thesis by Samra Adeni. This thesis considers the contemporary societal phenomenon of the fair skin bias in India, especially concentrated among Indian women. This colorism is reflected in matrimonial advertisements, commercial advertising and media, especially the 500 million dollar skin-lightening product industry, and Bollywood, the cinematic opium of the masses. This thesis examines the theory that this cultural mindset arises from the history of the subcontinent, namely the numerous invasions and imperial conquests that have occurred, where an imbalance of power has been created along the lines of light skin and dark skin. This power dynamic leads to a difference in socioeconomic status that over time became correlated with India’s caste system, and remains deeply entrenched in Indian society, even after the legalized prohibition of caste-based discrimination.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 2014

Author	Adeni, Samra
Advisor	Menon, Jisha

Subject	Program in Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies
Subject	India
Subject	Postcolonial Studies
Subject	skin color bias
Subject	socioeconomic status
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/hz094rj4376

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Adeni, Samra. (2014). The Empire Strikes Back: Postcolonialism and Colorism in Indian Women. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/hz094rj4376

Undergraduate Theses, Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Stanford University.

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