Inscribing Janaki Ammal: Biographies and the Act of Remembering

Abstract This paper examines the life and commemoration of E. K. Janaki Ammal, a groundbreaking Indian botanist and cytogeneticist. By analysing three biographical sources, the paper explores how these narratives portray Ammal as an exemplary female scientist, specifically by formulating a rigid picture of an ‘ideal female scientist’. While elucidating the career and gender-specific challenges faced by Ammal as a female scientist, the paper employs the methodological framework of feminist science studies to explore the creation, dissemination, and attribution of specific subjectivities. It examines how class, gender, and caste in India affected Ammal’s scientific career. Moreover, these biographies shed light on the role played by race in her scientific pursuits in nineteenth-century British India.