Note from the Editor (original) (raw)

ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change

Antyaja`a 1 , meaning The Last Girl, is an especially coined word by the founders of this journal, derived from Indian languages and postcolonial, de-colonial sensibilities. It draws its understanding of the 'Last' from Ambedkar's concept of liberating the Antyaj or The Last Born, John Ruskin's Unto the Last, and MK Gandhi's Antyodaya (taken from the words 'Antya' and 'Uday') to mean the rise of those who are the Last. The feminizing `A`a in the end has been inspired by the ferocious sexual goddess Durg`a 2 and rebel poet Mir`a 3. The journal aims to explore inequalities and social change across intersectionalities from the point of view of the most marginalized-'Last'-female (Antya-ja`a). It will go beyond the subaltern (a useful tool in interpreting colonialism from the point of view of the colonized) and offer a new tool to interpret power hierarchies-the lens of the last girl or Antya-ja`a. The 'Last Girl' is the most vulnerable of all human beings because she suffers from one or all of the multiple and intertwining inequalities of class, race, caste, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age and nationality, generation after generation. She is more vulnerable than a poor man, because she is female, she is weaker than a poor adult female, because she is also a girl and she is weaker than the poor girl, because she could be low-caste in India, Black in US, indigenous in Canada or Australia, a religious refugee minority in Europe… She has no control over her life or her body. She is not permitted to decide whether to go to school or stay at home to help with chores. She is not permitted to decide what to wear, what or how much to eat or even when to eat. She is not permitted to decide whom to marry, when to marry or when to have a baby. She is not allowed to even decide if she is to be sold into domestic servitude or prostitution. She is the most vulnerable, discarded and susceptible to subjugation of all human beings. Action and Policy fail to see her, let alone act or plan for her.