"I'm Not Like Indian Women": Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India

Abstract

The aim of this article is to look at the ways in which young European women staying in the city of Varanasi for long periods of time talk about India and how they negotiate their place and role as women there. There is a common travellers’ discourse that sees India as a difficult and dangerous place to a vulnerable traveler, and the encounters of colonial women with “otherness” have been widely analysed. This article brings this discussion to the post colonial era and endeavors to initiate a discussion about how to understand the encounters between visiting Western women and the locals in India today. The article is based on nine interviews which Korpela conducted in Varanasi, and on her participant observation.

Keywords

• India
• gender
• tourism
• post-colonialism