Thesis for the scholarly
degree of Philosophy Doctor in History (the candidate of the historical sciences)
according to the specialty 07.00.02 – the world history. – Diplomatic Academy
of Ukraine under the Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine. – Kyiv, 2017.
The thesis is devoted to the
study of the nature and peculiarities of the social reform movement in the
Madras Presidency in 1860–1930 as the most large-scale manifestation of reform process
in the South of colonial India.
The author managed to carry
out a comprehensive study of the reform movement in the Madras presidency during
the period of study, taking into account the socio-economic, geographical,
cultural, political and ideological aspects of the South Indian reform process.
The complex study is based on the position of the inclusion of the reform
movement into the wider context of formation of the societies of modern type, which
was a result of changes in social consciousness of Indians under the influence
of Western intellectual paradigms and socio-economic changes that have occurred
in the XIX century colonial India. The thesis highlights the main reform trends
in the most numerous linguistic areas of Madras Presidency (Tamil and
Telugu-speaking regions), the conditions of their origin, specificity and
peculiarities of their reform strategies are clarified.
Taking into consideration the heterogeneity of the movement and the
ideological differences of the reform trends the general tendencies of the
Madras movement are identified in the paper.
Attention is drawn to the
general reform idea of the "South presidency" – a concept of the "new
Indian woman", while claiming that a "women's issue" was the
common subject of the social reform process in colonial India in general as
well as its cornerstone.
In present study the formation
of social reform movement is studied in its relationship with the regional
revival (renaissance of the Dravidian culture) and the origin of nationalistic
consciousness in a specific South Indian situation, taking into consideration
the effect of the popular nationalist concepts in all-Indian scale (which
arrived to Madras from Bengal and North-Western regions) as well as the alternative
(local) notions of the nation.
