This book depicts one South Indian village during the fifty-year period when women's education became a possibility-and then a reality. Despite illiteracy, religious ritual marking them as inferior, and pre-pubertal marriages, the daughters and granddaughters of the silent, passive women of the 1960s have morphed into assertive, self-confident millennial women. Helen E. Ullrich considers the following questions: can education alter the perception of women as inferior and forever childlike? What happens when women refuse the mantle of socialized passivity? Throughout The Women of Totagadde, Helen Ullrich pushes us to consider how women's lives and society at large have been altered through education.

This edited volume focuses on the impact of education among different social groups in different geographical areas of South Asia. The chapters illustrate the effects of formal education on castes ranging from Dalits to Brahmins, Buddhists, and Christians, even as they consider a range of topics such as the relevance of practical knowledge prior to formal teaching, the personal educational experiences of young women, missionary education, curriculum, and the challenges and benefits of Information Technology. The geographical areas range from Sri Lanka and Nepal to various Indian states, including Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Maharastra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

This edited volume focuses on the impact of education among different social groups in different geographical areas of South Asia. The chapters illustrate the effects of formal education on castes ranging from Dalits to Brahmins, Buddhists, and Christians, even as they consider a range of topics such as the relevance of practical knowledge prior to formal teaching, the personal educational experiences of young women, missionary education, curriculum, and the challenges and benefits of Information Technology. The geographical areas range from Sri Lanka and Nepal to various Indian states, including Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Maharastra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.