Agnes Smedley between Berlin, Bombay, and Beijing
Agnes Smedley between Berlin, Bombay, and Beijing
Sexology, Communism, and National Independence
This chapter examines how the global circulation of sexology intertwined with communism and national independence by focusing on the writings of American journalist Agnes Smedley as well as the letters written to her by the Indian revolutionary Bakar Ali Mirza. More specifically, it considers sexual science's connections to leftist psychoanalysis and to the Indian independence movement during the 1920s. It discusses Smedley's self-conscious mobilization of the language of sexual science as a path toward revolution and modern selfhood, doing so by shuttling between India, Germany, China, and the United States. The Berlin–India nexus and Mirza's correspondence with Smedley highlight the intrinsic interrelationships among the liberational rhetoric of leftist politics, feminism, sexual rights, national independence, and psychoanalytic introspection. The chapter also considers how Smedley and her Indian revolutionary interlocutors negotiated new definitions of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality emerging from the global movements of sexual science, radical politics, and psychoanalysis.
Keywords: sexology, communism, Agnes Smedley, Bakar Ali Mirza, sexual science, psychoanalysis, Indian independence movement, Germany, leftist politics, feminism
California Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.