Dr Ranjana Saha
Visiting Research Fellow, July - August 2024
Home Institution: Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku
Ranjana Saha is currently a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS) Turku Intersectoral Excellence Scheme (TIES) Fellow (September 2023-August 2026), Department of European and World History, University of Turku, Finland. She was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow and Faculty Member at Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal (July 2020-July 2023) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, India (May 2018-April 2020). Her papers have been published in The Indian Economic and Social History Review (IESHR), South Asia Research, and Women’s Studies International Forum. She is the author of Modern Maternities (Routledge, 2023).
Project Title: Mothers, Mothercraft & Materialities: Urban India and Transnational Histories of ‘Scientific’ Motherhood
My research aims to decolonise the colonising cult of ‘scientific’ motherhood, often promoted as mothercraft, in colonial India with a focus mainly on Bengal. It uses the great concern around infant mortality as its entry point into a fast-expanding material culture and changing ideas about midwifery and mothercraft that were occurring at the time - for example, promotional and advice literature related to baby weeks, baby foods and mothering tools. Building on and moving beyond my doctoral research, my current work aims to draw these 'scientific' connections across regions within the subcontinent which would be further located amidst the broader context of the transnational infant welfare movement. Through such a study I aim to contribute towards multidisciplinary exchanges across motherhood studies, childhood studies, gender studies, medical anthropology, cultural studies, and beyond.