SLE Salon: Ben Baer and Parna Sengupta present Rokeya Hossain’s Spider-Mother

Join us for a salon with Ben Baer (Princeton) and Parna Sengupta (Stanford) on Spider-Mother. Spider-Mother features the writings of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, a pioneering Indian Muslim feminist who became a prominent writer, activist, and educator despite her lack of formal education. Her essays, newly translated by Ben Baer, reflect on her experiences with gender oppression, segregation, and more. Despite these challenges, Spider-Mother (Warbler Press, 2024) offers hope as Hossain’s activism demands dismantling gender supremacy to create a world where all people can be free. Ben Baer is an associate professor of comparative literature and director of Princeton’s Program in South Asian Studies. His research focuses on the diversity of literary and political figurations and concepts of Indigeneity, primarily in South Asia and the Americas. He translated The Tale of Hansuli Turn and is the author of Indigenous Vanguards.