Katherine Mayo
Katherine Mayo (27 January 1867 – 9 October 1940) was an American writer notorious for her polemical book Mother India (1927), in which she attacked the Hindu society, religion and Culture of India. It has been characterized as "essentially a racist tract serving to confirm long-held prejudices of white people against Indians".[1]
The book created a sensation on three continents.[2] Written against the demands for self-rule and Indian independence from the British Raj, Mayo alluded to the treatment of India's women, the Dalits, the animals, the dirt and the character of its nationalistic politicians. Mayo singled out the "rampant" and fatally weakening sexuality of its males to be at the core of all problems, leading to masturbation, rape, homosexuality, prostitution and venereal diseases and, most importantly, to too early sexual intercourse and premature maternity. Mayo's claims and perceptions of Indian society had become one of the most negative influences on the American people's view of India in history. The book prompted the publication of over fifty critical books and pamphlets in response.[3] The film, Mother India, was created in response to Mayo's book.
Her book was burned in India and New York, along with an effigy of its author.[4] It was criticized by Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote in response:
| “ | This book is cleverly and powerfully written. The carefully chosen quotations give it the false appearance of a truthful book. But the impression it leaves on my mind, is that it is the report of a drain inspector sent out with the one purpose of opening and examining the drains of the country to be reported upon, or to give a graphic description of the stench exuded by the opened drains. If Miss. Mayo had confessed that she had come to India merely to open out and examine the drains of India, there would perhaps be little to complain about her compilation. But she declared her abominable and patently wrong conclusion with a certain amount of triumph: 'the drains are India'[5] | ” |
[edit] Works
- Justice to All: History of the Pennsylvania State Police (1917)
- The Standard Bearers: True Stories of Heroes of Law and Order (1918)
- That Damn Y (1920)
- Mounted Justice: True Stories of the Pennsylvania State Police (1922)
- The Isles of Fear: The Truth about the Philippines (1925)
- Mother India (1927)
- Slaves of the Gods (1929)
- Volume II (1931)
- Soldiers What Next! (1934)
- The Face of Mother India (1935)
- Selections from Mother India (1998, Mrinalini Sinha, editor)
[edit] References
- ^ "Acme of Obscenity". http://www.tibetwrites.org/?Acme-of-Obscenity. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
- ^ Mrinalini Sinha: "Introduction". In: Sinha (ed.): Selections from Mother India. Women's Press, New Delhi 1998.
- ^ Jayawardena, Kumari (1995). The white woman's other burden: Western women and South Asia during British colonial rule. Routledge. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-415-91104-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=vJ9MCPdcGrsC&pg=PA99. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
- ^ Short bio (by Katherine Frick)
- ^ Teaching Journal: Katherine Mayo's Mother India (1927)
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- A Biography of Mayo at pabook.libraries.psu.edu
- Mother India book download
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