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Identity in Consumption: Reading Food and Intersectionality in Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting

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Nayana George¹ & Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan²

¹Research Scholar, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, India. Email: nayanageorge295@gmail.com/ nayana.george@res.christuniversity.in, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0002-5024

²Assistant Professor, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, India. Email: aryavijayaraghavan@gmail.com/ arya.pv@christuniversity.in, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9682-6074

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.20

First published: June 26, 2022 | Area: Gender Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

With the resurging interest in Food Studies, this rapidly emerging field of study has seen multiple disciplines adding in their distinct flavours that truly make this an area to savour. Literary food studies, in particular, has become a relevant field of study with the understanding that food in literature always plays a symbolic role, as food in literature is never depicted for the sustenance of the literary characters. This paper seeks to explore the novel Fasting, Feasting (1999) by Anita Desai through the lens of food and foodways to explicate how the characters interact with the culinary arena, and ultimately, interact with each other and themselves. These interactions will serve as crucial insights into their identities, particularly their intersectional gender identities considering the facets of nationality, class, and the like. A special focus will also be rendered on the notion of marginalisation seen in the text, of which gender is a crucial deciding factor. The title of the novel hints at consumption—at both its presence and absence—which will prove as the gateway to the interactions of the characters with food in the novel to examine who it is that gets to feast while who are forced to starve.

Keywords: literary food studies, food in literature, gender, intersectionality

1. Introduction

Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting (1999) has been the subject of immense critical inquiry due to the varied themes that Desai explores in the novel. The text is a fertile ground wherein discourses regarding the diasporic concerns of alienation and belonging (Amo, 2016, p. 138), gender (Choubey, 2004; Volná, 2005), the psychological insights into the oppressed central characters (Narayan & Mee, 2003, p. 227)—an aspect reflected in Desai’s other works as well and is often considered reminiscent of Virginia Woolf’s literary oeuvre (Kanwar, 1991)—and the like, thrive and flourish.

The foray of food studies into literary studies has invited more nuanced introspections into Desai’s text through the lens of food. Its multidisciplinary background lends to innovative analyses that add to the existing critical literature surrounding this crucial contribution to world literature. One such notable work is the conception of viewing the material culture depicted in the novel as politically charged, a perception that is primarily shaped by post coloniality and post liberalism (Wiegandt, 2019). These “post” conceptions have further invited migration and transnationalism. It is here that studies on food and its associated practices can “make a significant contribution not just to the anthropology of food, but also to our understanding of the ways in which the globalized movement of people, objects, narratives and ideas is experienced and negotiated” (Abbots, 2016, p. 115). Food is “endlessly meaningful,” writes Carole Counihan (1999, p. 6), for among its many other functions, it also serves as a marker of ethnic identity (Counihan, 2004; Vallianatos & Raine, 2008, p. 365). The multiplicity of identities takes on intricate nuances due to intersectionality in the globalised contemporary world. Initially, the term “intersectionality,” introduced by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (1989), was primarily related to the issue of race in feminism, especially concerning “the multidimensionality of Black women’s experiences” (p. 140). During the third wave of feminism, the term has developed to give rise to a subjectivity influenced by race, gender, class, sexuality, and more such classifiers (Cooper, 2016, p. 391; Nash, 2008, p. 2).

This subjectivity is visible in the chosen text’s food practices which “form the material nexus of class, gender, and political distinctions between individual characters and between India and the United States” (Wiegandt, 2019, p. 123). The title of the novel hints at consumption—at both its presence and absence—which will prove as the gateway to the interactions of the characters with food in the novel to examine who it is that gets to feast while who are forced to starve.

2. Feasting and Fasting—the Gender Divide

Rana Dasgupta, in her introduction to Desai’s novel (1999/2008), states that the book is an “excruciating account of how society can seize control of individuals—especially women—through such practices as eating, and remove them from everything they intended to be” (p. viii). Carole Counihan (1998) asserts that there is a “clear significance of food-centered activities and meanings to the constitution of gender relations and identities across cultures” (p. 2). Furthermore, food and food practices are often taken for granted due to their association with women (D’Sylva & Beagan, 2011, p. 280).

Kumkum Sangari (1993) observes that a household’s politics are seemingly dictated according to the degree of access women have to power (p. 871). An instance that demonstrates this fleeting supremacy of the woman over the man in the matters of the kitchen is seen in the exercise of deciding on the meals of the day by “MamaPapa,” the conjoined entity that they are referred to as in the book (Desai, 1999/2008, p. 5). The dining table was a “fertile ground” for “discussion and debate.” However, the narrator observes that “it was impossible not to see that the verdict would be the same as at the outset”—it would be Mama’s suggestions and “no other” (p. 14). Only Mama reserved the right to control the cook in the household. While the family’s economic and social status afforded the family cooks and servants, this exercise shows that it is the mother who is essentially cooking through the kitchen help.

The image of the ideal woman that has been created and perpetuated shows a being that is inferior to the male figure in every way. Pitted against masculinity, femininity is always considered as the weaker counterpart and as a member of “disadvantaged and devalued social categories” (Counihan, 1999, p. 8). While women are often entrusted with providing food for the family, notions of the ideal woman being submissive and sacrificing factors in this scenario present the ideal provider as one who creates and distributes but never consumes what she makes. “Many studies demonstrate that men eat first, best, and most” (Counihan, 1998, p. 2). Class, caste, race, and gender hierarchies are partly maintained and sustained through differential control over food and the varying levels of access to the same (Counihan, 1998, p. 2; 1999, p. 2). The rich distinguish themselves from the poor through food and foodways, and a similar correlation is perceived in the way men are distinguishable from women (Counihan, 1999, p. 8).

Desai’s work provides numerous examples of the way people are treated differently based on their gender identities (Karam, Khan, & Ahmad, 2022). What, how much, and when they can eat are dependent on their gender (Counihan 1999, p. 8). This creates an unequal footing between them as one is clearly favoured over the other in the prevailing heteronormative worldview. In the family that the first part of the novel revolves around, the dominance and supremacy that the father has are clearly exhibited through the way he behaves and how the rest of the family behaves towards him, especially on matters related to food and consumption. While it is the mother who takes decisions regarding the kitchen, as was established before, it can also be seen that the mother merely functions as a puppet that moves along to the father’s whims and fancies.

Additionally, the father’s supremacy is explicitly expressed through how he is considered akin to royalty and is often treated as such. The special attention that he garners is solely because he is a man. According to the norm propagated by the traditional society, the rest of the women have to take it upon themselves as their duty to serve him, regardless of whether they are willing to do so. This can be seen in the way the mother asks the elder daughter Uma to serve some fruit for her father, and she comes to the realisation that she “can no longer pretend to be ignorant of Papa’s needs, of Papa’s ways.” They make a whole ritual of the process of preparing the fruit to be fit for his consumption—wherein each orange segment is painstakingly peeled and rid of the pips—and “everyone waits while he repeats the gesture” of eating the pieces. When the whole process is completed, what remains are the peels and seeds on the mother’s plate and smears of orange juice on the father’s (1999/2008, pp. 23-24). With the depiction of the scene here, it is evident that the father was the only one to eat the fruit. The meals end with a flourishing presentation of “a napkin and a finger bowl” to the father and “he is the only one in the family who is given” these “emblems of his status.” The feeling of grandeur that his meal evokes is further exemplified when the narrator signals the end of the meal with the statement: “the ceremony is over” (p. 24).

The mother is used to being treated as inferior to the men, and she cultivates this idea in the minds of her daughters as well:

In my day, girls in the family were not given sweets, nuts, good things to eat. If something special had been bought in the market, like sweets or nuts, it was given to the boys in the family. (p. 5).

As she recounts this, she adds that her family did not belong to “such an orthodox home” and that her mother and her other female relatives often slipped her some “good things to eat…on the sly” (p. 6). While the mother remembers these situations so fondly, the pleasant feelings here do not take away from the fact that she was forbidden from eating certain food items solely because she was a female. The idea that these women, controllers of the kitchen space in their homes, still had to abide by the rules drawn up by the family’s men and had to hide what they had consumed shows the injustice in this scenario. The perceived notion of feminine control over the domestic space is just that—a false perception far away from reality. Other instances further express this sentiment of a man having control over a female’s eating and consumption patterns and preferences (Counihan, 1999, p. 8). The father disapproves of the mother playing rummy with her friends and eating betel nuts and leaves as he sees them as sinful indulgences that he dislikes. Still, when he indulges himself “in a little whisky and water,” the “little” being an understatement when he goes overboard and becomes an embarrassment in a social gathering, he hardly sees any of it to be his fault. He never deigns to apologise to anyone (pp. 7-10). An interesting alimentary image that makes its appearance numerous times in the novel is that of the glass of lemonade served to the father. The mother frets and worries herself to the extent that it pointedly draws the reader’s attention in the process of her ensuring that the father’s glass of lemonade is always ready for him to drink when he reaches home. It suggests that perhaps the mother had neglected to perform that particular task once and the repercussions were probably not so forgiving. It may be due to this fear that Uma always “decides to say nothing” (p. 12) when it comes to expressing her desire for food (Swarnakala & Kirubakaran, 2021, p. 423).

While she is never free to consume what she wishes nor that she creates, a woman’s self-worth is dependent on her abilities in the culinary space, her culinary prowess, and her ability to manage a kitchen. These are considered to be the only factors that impact her self-esteem, as illustrated through the mother forcing Uma to take credit for all the culinary delights served to the guests to increase her prospects of acceptance by the visiting family in the chances of a marriage match (pp. 75-78). Even the approval from the future family-in-law is expressed through a reference to the tea that she had served; “very nice tea,” says the prospective mother-in-law (p. 78).

However, Uma’s marriage plans do not come to fruition. The multiple failures at being wedded result in her parents giving up on those prospects for her, deigning themselves to an obligated maidservant in the form of their unmarried daughter (Chandel, 2018, p. 33). This situation provides a glimpse “into the fate of the women who remain single in this society” (Nandan, 2002, p. 171), always remaining bereft of autonomy (Jackson, 2018, p. 168). The younger daughter, Aruna, finds herself even more burdened to succeed where her sister had failed. Hence, she ends up in a marriage upheld merely out of obligation and not by choice.

On the other hand, Arun—the only son of the family—gets a radically different treatment than his sisters as he is greatly favoured over them (Jackson, 2018, p. 164). His mother feels that her status as a wife has been elevated once she birthed a son after numerous failed pregnancies. “What honour, what status. Mama’s chin was lifted a little higher in the air.… She might have been wearing a medal” (Desai, 1999/2008, p. 31). Papa insists on “proper attention” (p. 30) for his son with the assurance of “the best, the most, [and] the highest” (p. 121) for him, not just regarding education, but other needs as well. Papa believes that consuming meat is necessary to develop Arun’s strength (Poon, 2006, pp. 35–37). This reflects Counihan’s (1998) assertion that “food symbolically connote maleness and femaleness and establish the social value of men and women” (p. 2). This notion is also seen in “the practical philosophy of the male body as a sort of power, big and strong, with enormous, imperative, brutal needs…asserted in every male posture, especially when eating,” thereby functioning as “the principle of the division of foods between the sexes, a division which both sexes recognize in their practices and their language” (Bourdieu, 1979/2013, p. 35). However, all this attention works to culminate in the opposite of the desired effect in Arun, for he ends up burdened by expectations and scrutiny, and instead yearns for freedom. Moreover, ironically enough, the force-feeding of meat causes his body to unconsciously reject it entirely, and hence he relies solely on vegetarian food for his sustenance.

3. Beyond Boundaries—the Transnational Experience

In the second part of the book, Arun is in the USA, where the culture is very different from India. What remains almost constant is perhaps the gendered differential treatment of food. Arun stays as a guest with the Pattons, a seemingly conventional white American family. Mr. Patton cooks in the stereotypical overtly masculine way by cooking an enormous amount of meat out in the patio, for it “is a man’s thing” (Parasecoli, 2005/2013, p. 292). Arun is highly displeased with it, as evidenced by the choice of words that he uses to describe it— the “pervasive odour” of “raw meat being charred over the fire” (Desai, 1999/2008, p. 166), and the images of “grease and blood” (p. 169) — all of which are far from appetising thoughts.

Mrs. Patton, on the other hand, uses Arun as a crutch; she hides behind the excuse of Arun’s vegetarianism to avoid eating meat herself. Her domineering husband ignores her constant expressions, both verbal and otherwise, of being disgusted by meat. The choice of food is taken away from the woman in this situation and it is the man who decides for her. She is rendered insignificant in her household which she is supposed to run, and seen as suffering from “emotional and spiritual starvation” (Jain, 2014, p. 24). Arun sees a reflection of his mother in Mrs. Patton and her “bright plastic copy of a mother-smile…that is tight at the corners with pressure, the pressure to perform a role” (Desai, 1999/2008, p. 198). This realisation is at once comforting and disturbing for Arun—the former for it serves as a reminder of home (Jackson, 2018, p. 168). The latter is due to the feelings of entrapment and stagnation that he associates with his family in India. Mrs. Patton experiences the same emotions within her own family (Jain, 2014, p. 24). “Mrs Patton is afraid, defeated, and no less a prisoner in her own home than Uma” (Desai, 1999/2008, introduction by Dasgupta, p. x). Even the Pattons’ daughter, Melanie, is adversely affected by the tensions in the family. Her mental afflictions result in her suffering from eating disorders, which hint at her need for some semblance of control in her turbulent life (O’Connor, 2013, p. 32). Her food consumption is seemingly the only aspect of her life that she can direct. Consequently, her eating disorders and hostile behaviour are cries for help that are constantly left unheard and ignored.

The idea of gender identity accompanies sexuality and how its perception has evolved and been rediscovered. Food and sex are seen to be “metaphorically overlapping” (Counihan, 1999, p. 9) as they are multisensorial experiences that excite similar responses within the body. By exploring the role that food plays in “enabling antinormative relationships to emerge within the sexualized, gendered, and classed domestic space,” Anita Mannur (2010) argues that “the relationship between food and queerness challenges the apparently seamless links between food, home, nation, and (hetero) sexuality.” And hence, “the culinary functions as a site of cultural negotiation: both disciplining subjects into gendered roles and buttressing an alternative rendering of sexuality and gendered performance that cannot be contained by the structures of heterosexual patriarchy” (p. 20).

Desai puts forth the contrast between the gender identities of Arun and the two father figures that he encounters: his father in India and Mr. Patton in the US. Arun is a vegetarian not under religious restrictions but by his own volition. This choice is a concept that neither of the older men can fathom. Arun’s father finds his decision to be “baffling,” for he considers vegetarian men as “meek and puny men who had got nowhere in life” (1999/2008, p. 33). Mr. Patton thinks of vegetarianism to be “not natural,” and he finds himself disappointed with “such moral feebleness” (p. 170), for men are supposed to be “the natural meat eaters” (Bourdieu, 1979/2013, p. 35). All these qualities that these men describe are precisely the opposite of those associated with masculinity, and it is to be noted here that they pride themselves on being men who embody the masculine nature. By referring to Arun as weak and frail, they associate him with the notions of being effeminate and subservient solely based on his food choices. While the men never explicitly mention any outright words about Arun’s sexual orientation, they may consider the possibility of him being a homosexual as well. Regardless, the thought of the formative men in his life thinking Arun to be weak indicate that they see him as soft and hence, not masculine in their binary oriented perception. This pushes Arun into a category that is neither here nor there of the narrow heteronormatively constructed gender identities, and into a state of uncertainty and confusion.

“Food consumption,” writes Tulasi Srinivas (2006), is the “narrative of affiliative desire” that affectively recreates social identity groupings for the “cosmopolitan Indian” (p. 193) by simultaneously functioning as a medium of showcasing assimilation as well as resistance to the dominant culture (Mannur, 2010, p. 7). Furthermore, “[t]he domestic arena…becomes a space to reproduce culture and national identity” (p. 30). Or in Arun’s case, it becomes a space for him to resist his old identity and reinvent himself. For Arun, India is a far cry from the central stage of the nostalgic reverie of other literary characters who usually make appearances in diasporic literature. He only sees India as the home of his overbearing parents, and he dreads the very thought of going back. And hence, he willingly suffers through the alienation he experiences at the Pattons’ place due to them reinforcing “the boundaries between Self and Other through appropriation of and emphasis on Arun’s Otherness” (Amo, 2016, p. 133). He would much rather make peace with the USA’s paltry contribution of sandwiches and salads to vegetarians than return to the place that was never his home. He has completely severed himself from the culinary performance of making food and always buys comestibles that are made in outlets by faceless strangers. He is apprehensive of the food that Mrs. Patton prepares for him, for she reminds him of his mother. He prefers the impersonal act of buying food from his college cafeteria instead. Even though Arun hardly pays attention to what he consumes while leading his busy life as a college student and as a part-time worker, his conscious avoidance of everything that may remind him of his life in India indicates his desire to leave that existence behind him. He never learned to cook the kind of food he ate throughout his childhood, and he does not exhibit a desire to do so in the future. He has no qualms in adhering to his new country’s food norms, and while he does not particularly enjoy his stay there, he still considers it much better than his life in India (Desai, 1999/2008, pp. 175-202).

4. The Potpourri of Marginalised Identities

Returning to the first part of the novel, Uma has various interactions with others who shape her life, presenting alternative ways of existence to her enslavement at home, and perhaps, the opportunity to live and experience life vicariously through them. Ramu, her traveling vagabond cousin, always provides her with good memories sprinkled with food, wine, dancing, and laughter (pp. 48-52). Though considered slightly lower than other men due to his club foot, his status as a man in society still grants him the sanction to be Uma’s protector on the short trips that they take. However, the understanding that Uma’s worth as a non-disabled woman being much lower than a disabled man is an undercurrent in their scenes together.

The gendered perception of life is also seen in the treatment of widows. “The life of the Hindu widow has always been the dark side of eating in India,” says Chitrita Banerji in Eating India (2007, p. 142). She writes about her grandmother whose identity as a widow has permeated her life so profoundly that even her eating habits have not been spared. The food that she now consumes indicates her identity as a woman who no longer has the support of her husband. The death of her husband is “traditionally attributed to her misdeeds and unnatural appetites; a common word of abuse in rural Bengal translates as ‘husband-eater’” (p. 142). A widow is considered guilty of “the sin of survival” (p. 142), and her presence is thought of as a bad omen. As punishment for her existence, she is forced into permanently giving up many food items and developing a culinary palate that is as bland and bleak as her life as a widow is supposed to be, even going so far as to be kept away from cooking in the kitchen during the occasions of feats and festivals (Lamb, 2000, p. 213-217; Patgiri, 2022, p. 152). The want for food beyond the measure of mere sustenance is seen as a reflection of lust and desire, and hence, abstinence from all pleasure is wielded as a way to control sensual desires. And a way of ensuring this control is seen in the way that some widows are only allowed one meal a day, leaving them in a state of almost fasting (Lamb, 2000, p. 213-217). As anticipated, only the desires of women need to be curbed, for there are no such restrictions for a widower to follow (Ahmed-Ghosh, 2009). Mira is Uma’s aunt who ascribes to the forced asceticism due to her status as a widow. She embraces religious devotion to escape from the marginalisation accompanying her status (Jain, 2014, p. 25). Uma, perhaps rebelliously enough, associates her aunt with her decadent ghee laden laddoos that she painstakingly prepares (Desai, 1999/2008, p. 38)—an exercise of Mira’s choice—instead of the forced austerity of widowhood.

Anamika, Uma’s cousin, is yet another victim of a forced social practice. Her marriage at the expense of her scholarship to Oxford is filled with trauma and physical abuse at the hands of her husband and her mother-in-law (p. 67-72). All she is reduced to now is a harried servant who cooks and cleans at her marriage home, relegated to days of service after her worth is tarnished beyond relief after a miscarriage brought about at the hands of her husband leaves her to identify as “damaged goods” (p. 72). In one stroke, all that she had achieved in life is disregarded, and her identity is solely defined based on her trauma.

5. Conclusion

The characters’ experiences “illustrate the interplay of individual and collective identity, the consequences of identification, and the magnitude of the historical themes that everyday situations may evoke” (Jenkins, 2008, p. 4). Desai initially seems to posit a gender-centric classification to the characters by drawing a defining line between the subservient female and the privileged male. However, the delicate nuances of identity come into play on further introspection, where the “differential control over and access to food” exhibits the various societal hierarchies (Counihan, 1999, p. 8). The evaluation of the characters’ lives and experiences gets flavoured by aspects such as their nationality, class, and notions of marginalisation. On viewing the text through the lens of food, the characters exhibit their various characteristics in their interactions with food. Additionally, food also serves as a medium that highlights the relationships among the characters—of kinship and otherwise—and ultimately, shapes and moulds their individual and collective identities. A more holistic view towards the characters invites the appreciation of the richness of Desai’s story world as being a true reflection of the real world.

The title of the novel is often thought to convey significant meaning as well, at first glance seemingly referring to the geographical backgrounds of the two parts of the novel— “fasting” associated with the regressive and poverty-stricken India and “feasting,” in turn, representing the dreams, hopes, and plenty in the USA (Amo, 2016, p. 134). However, on careful consideration, the fasting and feasting seen in the context of the characters are “relative and multiple at the same time” (Volná, 2005, p. 2). Each character experiences fasting and feasting in their separate ways with their experiences, thoughts, and memories creating bespoke blends that influence their identities—in how they perceive themselves, in the projection of their identities, and in the way, others perceive their identities.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

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Nayana George is a Research Scholar at the Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, India. She is currently invested in the areas of literary food studies and South Asian narratives for her doctoral research.

Dr Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan is an Assistant Professor in English and Cultural Studies at Christ University, Bangalore, India. Her areas of research include Gender and Intersections, Food and Identity Discourse, Memory studies, Cultural Studies, Education and Curriculum Development. She was awarded her MPhil and PhD from The English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad. She is particularly interested in understanding how the experience of the pandemic has shaped the practices of everyday life. Some of her recent works were published in various Scopus-indexed journals like Society (Springer Science), Smart Learning Environment (Springer Open), Journal of Computers in Education (Springer Nature), and Journal of English as an International Language (ELE Publications) among others.

Integration of the Traditions of Folk-Instrumental Art into the Works of Chinese Composers of the 20th and 21st Centuries

East Asia/Systematic Musicology/V14N2

1.2K views

Mengwei Cheng¹, Botian Pang¹, Xiaoxuan Zeng¹, Weifeng Xu¹ & Yuan Chang¹

¹Department of Music History, Lviv National Music Academy named after Mykola Lysenko, Lviv, Ukraine. Email: cheng@nuos.pro

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.19

First published: June 26, 2022 | Area: Systematic Musicology | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

The problem of integration of folk art and, in particular, instrumental art, into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, in the light of the above-mentioned phenomena, is relevant, comprehensive and, to a certain extent, inexhaustible for the researchers of the world musicological science. This was a factor that prompted disclosure of the topic in the publication in question, which was at the same time the reason for writing the study. Its relevance stems from the importance of a deep understanding of such a phenomenon as folk instrumental art and its implementation in compositional practice. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of integrating folklore (its instrumental branch) into professional academic music of China. The main methods for achieving this, are the principles and approaches chosen here to review, collect, study and a certain systematic compilation of sources relating to Chinese music in general, as well as its folk-instrumental field – in particular. The result of the activities undertaken is the categories of all the sectors of the problem under consideration, derived from the research process. They form a coherent structure of systems such as musical language (means of musical expression) and ways of processing folklore sources. The tables and the figure-chart illustrate this aspect. There is a considerable number of different scholarly judgments, perspectives of specialists who have addressed in their research activities the issue of integrating folk instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the problem of integrating folk instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, as a holistic and comprehensive phenomenon, requires its own deep and comprehensive research. This fact determines the practical significance of the present study. It also demonstrates the promising nature of scientific knowledge in this field in the future.

Keywords: Chinese piano works, saxophone works, Chinese composers’ vocal music, genres and techniques of composition, principles of realising folk and national origins in professional art.

Introduction

The integration of folk heritage into professional composer’s art, in all schools, traditions and cultures without exception, served as an indicator of the national belonging of certain authorial styles. This also concerns the music of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. By implementing the deep foundations of the folklore of their homeland, they were able to create examples of national classics distinguished by their uniqueness, originality and strong folk-national character. Chinese folklore is expressive and multifaceted. Another noteworthy factor is the phenomenon that its characteristic and content, peculiarities and individual features are determined by the region (area) of the country. Thus, differences emerge between the main types of artistic expression in the samples of folk art belonging to different territorial units (Zhakupov et al., 2020; Nurgali & Kishkenbaeva, 2013). As earlier studies show, there are four regional stylistic branches in China as the main ones: Xinjiang, Shanbei, Guangdong and Sichuan (Shuyun, 2020).

Each of them is distinctive and unique, with an inner complexity that has a direct impact on the sound of the works created under the conditions of the professional Chinese school of composition. “The Xinjiang style” is related to the musical culture of the Uighurs and Kazakhs. It is characterised by frequent tempo changes, an abundance of syncopated rhythms and repetition of intonation cells in melodic structures. The thematically leading melody is usually preceded by richly ornamented improvisational introduction “sanban” (Shuyun, 2020; Nurgali et al., 2021).

“The Shanbei style” is characterised by epic narrative, variation in meter, variability in harmony, the construction of melodies from the summation of an even number of phrases and the predominance of intonations in which a perfect fourth interval plays a fundamental role (Shuyun, 2020). The characteristics of “the Guangdong style” are such features as the predominance of lyrical and pastoral images, the construction of melodies following the principle of singing the basic tone, the absence of broad intervals in the intonation structure of musical themes and the abundance of ornamental patterns (Shuyun, 2020). “The Sichuan style” synthesises the elements of Han Chinese and Tibetan cultures. The characteristics of the style are rooted in the characteristics of Sichuan melodies, based on an alternation of perfect fourths and minor thirds (Shuyun, 2020).

On the basis of the aforementioned characteristics of Chinese folk music styles, composers have the opportunity to implement in their works a wide range of ideas, images, moods, harmonies, intonation and rhythms, as well as to create different genres of professional music in the academic sphere. Chinese composers in the period of the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries embodied the traditions of each of the named regions according to their individual styles. This has proved to be a testament to the depth, colourfulness, versatility and national originality of one of the oldest musical cultures in the Asia-Pacific region (Nurgali et al., 2013; Sabadash et al., 2020). At the same time, there are a number of categories that unite the works of Chinese composers, implementing their ideas in different stylistic and technological spheres. This study reveals each of them and also characterises them according to their intrinsic content. The role and functional significance of these components of the author’s work is highlighted.

Finally, a general picture of the process of integrating folk instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries is demonstrated. This is possible thanks to a clear definition of the most important elements that make up the structure of composition as an integrated system, as well as by identifying universal and classical principles generally accepted in the composing practice, the transformation of folklore sources by authors. They define the uniqueness of such a phenomenon as the Chinese school of composition of the 20th and 21st centuries in the context of world, particularly musical, culture. The relevance and future prospects of studying this problem are also evident, since the practice of composition-making implies a continuous renewal of the intonation and technological funds that constitute its basis.

Materials and methods

The creativity of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries is a vast field, providing almost unlimited scope of material. Its value, originality, uniqueness and authenticity lie in the subtle and profound reflection of folk and national origins in professional music of an academic character. It is necessary to reveal the principles and mechanisms of embodying the leading elements of centuries-old Chinese folklore in the context of the author’s works. It is of fundamental importance to explore the issue of clearly defining the components that make up a coherent system of composing works. The author’s objective in this study is, on the one hand, to identify the categories of Chinese folk art that are reflected in the composers’ works and, on the other hand, to analyse the ways these categories are embodied and implemented through the composers’ individual processing of these categories in their own compositions.

The integration of folk instrumental traditions into the works of Chinese composers occurs through the incorporation into the author’s projects of such folklore categories as: harmony and intonation structure; meter-rhythm; texture; genre; instrumentation and manner of performance. They become the logo, the symbol of the culture of each individual nationality. In order to investigate the processes of interpreting folk art sources in 20th- and 21st-century composer music, the materials dedicated to each of the above categories were collected and analysed in detail.

Thus, the harmony-intonation nature of Chinese music, based on the tone row, which is a pentatonic scale (anhemitonic or ahemitonic), has been examined in detail. According to the research, they constitute a more complex system of a higher order: the yun-gong-diao. The metre-rhythm of Chinese national culture is analytically covered as well, since this aspect is directly linked to the artistic traditions of the country’s individual regions. It became necessary to establish the fact that the “Xinjiang style” mentioned earlier is represented, on the one hand – by the frequent change of tempos, and on the other hand – by the abundance of syncopated rhythms, while the variation of the metre is typical for the “Shanbei style”.

The study also examined the field of folk instrumental art, such as the timbre system, the traditions of its use and combination in ensemble and orchestral formations, as well as the performance techniques using Chinese national instruments, as they were adapted by the professional academic school in the context of the modern composing style of China of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is also necessary to master a number of genres of academic professional music that have emerged in the works of Chinese composers, as the leading branches of national folklore – song and dance have transformed into transcriptions of different scales and became the basis of such composition forms as plays, variations, sonata and concerto.

The study of the ways in which folklore sources are processed has also proved to be one of the leading areas of the present study. Thus, the adaptation of rich folk-national material for European instruments (timbre transformations and modifications in the processing of folklore) as well as – interpretation techniques, recreating the characteristics of folk-national performance using instruments introduced into Chinese art practice from Europe, have been investigated. The genre transformation of Chinese folk music in the academic music of the 20th and 21st centuries, which was influenced by the creation of European-type classical compositions, was discussed in detail.

The harmonious-harmonic and structural-metrical systems of folk instrumental art were analysed, since through their convergence with the fundamental principles of European tonality and laws of formation, organic and deeply professional synthesis of the basic structures in these major poles of musical culture enabled the production of works that turned out to be classical examples of world music of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Results

As the author’s collection of materials, their analysis and classification show, the process of integrating folk-instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries involves: exploring and studying in depth examples of Chinese folk art from different provinces and regions; recording folklore samples using the latest engineering equipment; composers’ focus on particular categories of folk instrumental art (harmony; rhythm; texture; genre; instrumentation); ways of arranging folk sources; the emergence of new genres of professional composition (concertos, suites, sonatas, variations and concert pieces).

Table 1 lists the most important elements of musical language through which Chinese composers were able to implement the phenomenon of transposing the traditions of popular instrumental art into the academic sphere.

Table 1. Categories of musical language as the basic components of a coherent system of composition

Category name	Category meaning
Harmony (harmony and intonation)	Reflecting the nature and character of the sound of the national scale, in this case – pentatonic scale and its later modifications
Meter – rhythm	Reflecting the nature and character of the pulsation, the alternation of up-beats and down-beats typical of Chinese musical folklore
Instrumentation (timbre range)	Reflecting the nature and character of the colouring of the sound field formed in folk Chinese music
Performance techniques	A means of achieving the most expressive effects in the process of interpretation, through an arsenal of technical playing methods developed in performing practice
Genres and forms	Reflecting the artistic and semantic essence of folk art samples, by demonstrating their semantic aspects in the context of clear compositional structures that have developed over the centuries

Table 2 provides a list of the means of the 20th and 21st century academic tradition in Chinese music by which the integration of folklore into professional art takes place.

Table 2. Means of integrating folk instrumental art into the art of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries

The stages of mastering folk art	Characteristics of folk-art learning processes
Collecting folklore	Scientific expeditions to various cities and regions of China, as well as video conferences and online source collection, aimed at comprehending the picture of folk art and defining its types, according to the characteristic features inherent in its samples
Recording folk melodies	Creation and use of the necessary engineering equipment to enable the preservation on electronic media of authentic versions of folk instrumental performance
Decrypting the materials	Creation of a textual (visual) version of folklore samples
Source processing	The actual creation of an author’s composition on the basis of folk melodies, where the primary source undergoes varying degrees of transformation, often turning into a new genre

The process of collecting, recording and decrypting folklore has gradually expanded and improved due to the upgrading of material (transport, communication and engineering) base. Its profound modernisation has opened up almost unlimited possibilities for specialists in the study of folk and, in particular, instrumental art of China. In terms of composition, however, a truly creative individual artistic expression emerges in the processing of sources drawn from the centuries-long tradition of Chinese music-making. This fact prompts consideration of the principles of folklore interpretation separately and, to a certain extent, in more detail. Each of them is characterised by its own content and quality of primary source transformation. Thus, one of the most common examples of processing folk melodies is their arrangement for instruments of the European academic tradition, in which the intonation and rhythmic structure of folklore samples is fully preserved (Dautova et al., 2017; Tatenov & Askarova, 2014b).

A more complex and, inspired by the author’s creative approach, more sophisticated method of processing national sources is transcription. It involves enriching the source material with timbre findings and virtuoso performance techniques typical of global professional music practice. This principle of transforming folklore materials and, at the same time, the genre of composition became popular in the 1960s-70s in the works of Wang Lisan, Wang Jianzhong and Chu Wanhua. It contributed to the formation of a vast arsenal of means, reflecting intonation and rhythmic structure of Chinese national music (Wa, 2015).

Then (late 1970s-1980s) the principle of working with thematic material of Chinese folk art, such as its implementation in major genres of European musical culture, became widespread. The harmonious, intonational and rhythmic foundations of folklore are being adapted to such structures as sonata, variations and concerto. The stage under consideration for the integration of folk art into the composer’s art contributed to the authors’ individuality and creative freedom in the choice of genres, forms and themes. This, in turn, has enabled China’s national school of composition to expand its possibilities and become open to a wider audience around the world (Wa, 2015).

The processing of Chinese folklore has also affected the sphere of style adaptation. Thus, the primary sources of folk, particularly instrumental art, were given a new life in the leading styles of academic Western European music: baroque (“Prelude and Toccata”, “Impromptu” by Chu Wanhua; polyphonic piano works: Prelude “Plot from Bach”, “Two two-voice inventions”, three fugues in strict style by Huang Ji), romanticism (Piano Concerto “Huanghe” by Yin Chengzong, Chu Wanhua, Liu Zhuang), impressionism (Tan Dun – “Eight Memories in Watercolour” op. 1, 1978; Wang Lisan – “Paintings by Higashiyama Kaii”, 1979; Chu Wanhua – Six Preludes, 1961-1977), expressionism (“Wukui” by Zhou Long, 1983, based on the fusion of authentic folk-dance tunes and the atonality of the New Vienna School; Second sonata by Chu Wanhua, 2006).

The underlying basis for the transformation of Chinese folk, in particular instrumental art, in the context of professional academic music is the application of classical composition techniques that have developed in European artistic culture over a number of centuries. These components include: the tonal-functional system (the sound scales of the two major harmonies of European classical music – major and minor, as well as the chord (harmony) of thirds structure, which has a clearly defined function in the overall structure); the extended 12-tone system (atonality, dodecaphony, serialism). The flexible, deeply organic and highly professional adaptation of the harmony and intonation system in Chinese folk music to the above systems created the image of contemporary compositional creativity which has become the heritage of world music art.

The integration of national instrumental music into the art of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries is also expressed in such a fundamental aspect of the problem as the transformation of the sound characteristic features of Chinese folk instruments and their playing techniques into the conditions of the classical European orchestra and its separate units (piano, saxophone and others). A large proportion of Chinese piano music is based on the imitation of a variety of national wind instruments. For example, the imitation of various playing techniques of the xiao-chang yin (trill) and the yin (grace notes) – present in the piano pieces by Zhu Wanhua, “Singing zheng and xiao” (1961) and “Xiangxiaogu” (1975) by Li Ying-Hai. The techniques of playing di-chan yin (trill), li yin (quick, short glissando), da yin and do yin (up and down grace notes), tu yin (repetition), hua yin (portamento) – refracted in the piano pieces “Piccolo flute of the shepherd” (1934) by He Lutin, “The music of the Chinese flute in northern Hubei province” from the cycle “Six concert etudes” (1973) by Zhao Xiaosheng, and “Scarlet peonies in bloom” (1973) by Wang Jianzhong. Imitations of such soprano techniques as yin (grace notes), chanyin (trill), zheng yin (repetition), huashe yin (literally translated – “snarling tongue”), po yin (mordent) can be heard in various fragments of the piano piece “A Hundred Birds Paying Respect to the Phoenix” (1973) by Wang Jianzhong, and other works. Characteristic intonation moves typical of sheng playing are recognisable in the texture of the piano pieces in Jiang Zusin’s suite “Fair by the Temple” (1955) (Wang Ying, 2009).

An important feature of Chinese composers’ piano works is the implementation of certain playing techniques on national stringed instruments. For example, the imitation of such erhu playing techniques as hua yin (portamento) and chisp zou (legato) are used in Zhu Wanhua’s arrangement of “The Moon Reflected in the Erzuan River” (1972). The most used techniques for performing on the banhu, which are also displayed in piano music, are several varieties and yin (grace note). Zhu Wanhua’s piano piece “Liberated Days” (1964) imitates the yin. The basic techniques of playing the guqin include sang yin (pinching the natural string not pressed with the finger), an yin (pressing the string with the finger to change the pitch while playing the melodic line), zou yin (sliding the fingers quickly over the string) and fan yin (string harmonic) are also present in the texture of several Chinese piano pieces. They are the pieces “Xiangxiaogu” (1975) and “Yangguangsande” (1978) by Li Yinghai, “Three times the mums flowers bloom” (1973) by Wang Jianzhong and the Piano Concerto “Echo of Liao” (1993) by Zhao Xiaosheng (Wang Ying, 2009).

The performing range of pipa playing techniques is exceptionally wide and includes tan (plucking a string to the left with the tip of the right forefinger nail), tiao (raising a string with the tip of the right thumb nail to the right), gou (the principle, just like tiao, buut to the left), mo (slow, smooth plucking of a string), yao (rapid tremolo on a single string), sao (rapid plucking of three or four strings with the forefinger of the right hand from right to left), fu (the same as sao but from left to right), and many other techniques. The following pianistic techniques from Li Yinghai’s “Xiangxiaogu” can be considered as piano transcriptions of some of the pipa playing techniques: repetition and tremolo imitating yao, lightning-fast glissando imitating sao and fu, sharp staccato resembling vigorous pinching of tan, tiao, gou (Wang Ying, 2009).

“Illustrations” of zheng playing techniques are present in many piano works by Chinese composers, such as the third part of Ying Chengzong’s Piano Concerto “Yellow River” (1969), the pieces “Singing zheng and xiao” (1961) and Zhu Wanghua’s “Embroidery of an Inscription on a Golden Canvas” (1973), Wang Jianzhong’s “Liuyang River” (1972). In these opuses, the zheng sound is imitated by arpeggiato as well as glissandied passages. Imitations of the sound of the yangqin can be heard in Wang Jianzhong’s piece “Embroidery of an Inscription on a Golden Canvas” (1973), Chei Pegisuish’s piece “Thunder in Arid Weather” (1954), and a number of other piano works (Wang Ying, 2009).

The specificity of Chinese piano art, along with the implementation of the performing techniques of wind and string instruments, is also highlighted by numerous examples of imitating the sound of percussion instruments in piano works. The piano’s texture acquires a special colouring in this case. Thus, powerful chords, wide range, and the presence of several layers imitate the striking of the bells in the fragments of Wang Lisan’s piece “Noise of the Waves” from the suite “Paintings by Higashiyama Kaii” (1979). Ding Shande’s piano opus “A Morning Breeze Blows” (1945) imitates the sonorous, sharp timbre of the bo (cymbals) with certain rhythmic intonation solutions. The quarto-quinta sonorities and rhythmical formulas inherent in music for percussion with a particular pitch are reproduced in the piece by Qu Wei, “Dance with the Drum” (1946) – it also includes heavy yunlo (gong) beats. Many qualities of the percussion instruments – the aforementioned quarto-quinta and octave harmonies, as well as the overall joyful atmosphere of “chime” – reflected in a piano piece “Thought of Spring” (1959) by Chen Peixun (Wang Ying, 2009).

Figure 1 illustrates the integration of folklore origins into the professional academic tradition of the present period.

Figure 1. Integration of folk instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries

Thus, the process of collecting, analysing and systematising the materials on folk, particularly instrumental, art integrated into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries provides a picture that reveals this problem in all its volume, versatility and complexity, according to the number of components that comprise it.

Discussion

The researchers have developed an extensive body of research material on the topic of this study. Each of them worked on a particular area of the phenomenon in question. Issues of improvisation in the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries (through the example of Chu Wanhua) is the subject of Chui Wah’s dissertation. The musicologist analyses Wanhua’s piano transcriptions of themes from instrumental music (“Reflection of the Moon in the Spring”, “The Crimson River”) which offer the pianist great opportunities through a variety of performing techniques, in particular ornamentation, polyphony and also the concerto-romantic style. The range of genres the composer favoured is also revealed: etudes, preludes, barcarolles, capriccio and larger concert forms using modern writing techniques. It also covers the traditions of classical European academic music styles to which Chu Wanhua turned and the type of harmonic thinking (second vertical) that is characteristic of his works (Wa, 2015).

Wang Ying’s dissertation deeply and comprehensively explores the principles of the implementation of national traditions in the piano music of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Thus, the orientation of the academic professional school authors towards samples of instrumental works, in particular folk dance tunes is revealed: “Taiwan Dance” (1936) by Jiang Wenye, “Xinjiang Dance No. 1” (1950), “Xinjiang Dance No. 2” (1955) by Ding Shande, “Three Dances” cycle (1951) by Ma Si Cong, “Dunlang Dance with Brass Drum” (1977) by Lu Huabai, “Lotus Dance” cycle (1979) by Qiu Wei, “Wukui” (1983) by Zhou Lung, “Do-e” (1984) by Chen Yi and many other works that combine the national component with such European composition techniques as atonality and dodecaphony. Examples of imitating the playing of national Chinese instruments (almost all groups) in piano literature are studied: play “Singing Zheng and Xiao” (1961) by Zhu Wanhua, play “Piccolo Flute of a Shepherd” (1934) by He Lutin, play “Music of Chinese Flute in the North of Hubzu Province” (1973) by Zhao Xiaosheng, play “A Hundred Birds Paying Respect to the Phoenix” and “Scarlet Peonies in Bloom” (1973) by Wang Jianzhong, the suite “Fair by the Temple” (1955) by Jiang Zusin, the plays “Liberated Days” (1964) and “The Moon Reflected in the Erzuan River” (1972) by Zhu Wanhua, “Yangguangsande” and “Xiangxiaogu” by Li Yinghai and “Embroidery of an Inscription on a Golden Canvas” (1973) by Wang Jianzhong (Wang Ying, 2009).

The technical and acoustic characteristics of Chinese folk instruments used and realised their potential in the music of Xu Changjun (“Sword Dance” for luqin solo, “Phoenix” concerto for yangqin and orchestra, Capriccio concerto for huqin and orchestra of Chinese folk instruments) are covered in Yan Jianan’s publication. According to the researcher, they have a direct impact on the harmonious intonation, harmonic and faceting components of Changjun’s works (Jianan, 2020).

The involvement of the latest engineering technologies in the creation of music by contemporary Chinese composers, in particular the Seq2Seq model (for creating multi-track Chinese popular songs), is described by a group of scientists from China (Zheng et al., 2017b). The process of creating algorithms in composition design is analysed in one of the publications by Chinese specialists. In particular, a hybrid PSO model is described, where source music material is created using artificial intelligence, followed by its development using evolutionary operators in GA and the final form of the piece emerges (Zheng et al., 2017a; Tatenov & Askarova, 2014a).

The role of the European symphony orchestra’s wind instruments, particularly the saxophone, for contemporary Chinese composers is also defined. Thus, its popularity and widespread use in the country is indicated. With regard to this fact, the activities of musician Fan Shengzi, who created arrangements of Chinese songs such as “Butterflies in Love” and “Moonlight Round Dance Asi”, “Pastoral”, “Flowing Waters”, “Ussuri Boat” (in the blues style) and “Song from Imenshan” (based on Shengzi’s work “Love for Nature”) are highlighted. He greatly enriched well-known folk melodies by including improvisational and variation sections in his transcriptions. There is also discussion of works by composer Huang Anlun who composed a major work for saxophone and Chinese folk orchestra entitled “Chinese Rhapsody” (1988), in which elements of Chinese folk music are widely used: pentatonic scale, special methods of melodic development, combined with the traditions of Western compositional techniques (Maine, 2012).

Stepanova (2020) discusses in her work the relationship between the development of saxophone playing skills and the emergence of national performing schools on this basis, and this applies to the Chinese tradition as well. Music for saxophone made in the Asia-Pacific region (notably in Thailand) takes its shape in a series of different versions, one of which is the performance of the traditional Isan vocal form, molam, accompanied by saxophone as an accompaniment instrument, to which synth, electric organ, drums and electric guitar can be added if the composers wish. The various techniques of this style and the characteristics of the development of the musical material are highlighted (Seeyo, 2021).

Peng Cheng explores the harmony system of Chinese music and the principles of its implementation in the works of composers of the 20th and 21st centuries in his dissertation. Thus, he analyses the process of forming the Chinese national harmony system yun-gong-diao and its modernisation, through a deep synthesis with the European tonal-functional system, as well as with 20th century composition techniques, which leads to the emergence of “harmony dodecaphony” (Khaybullina et al., 2020). The specialist compares the chord structure of the major-minor and national Chinese systems. The latter, in contrast to the laws of the tertian vertical line formed in the music of Europe, represents the consonances formed by pentatonic material (major second, minor and major thirds, perfect fourth and fifth, minor and major sixth, minor seventh, up to the formation of pentatonic “clusters”). The study provides examples of using second-quint chords (“pipa chords”), second-third chords and quart chords (based on the chu-tetrachord) (Cheng, 2011).

The birth of the piano transcription genre as a reflection of the process of integrating folk art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries is evidenced by the work (dissertation) of Qiu Wah. Chen Shuyun covers the main stylistic trends in piano music of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries in his work. He reveals the reflection, based on Chinese national culture, of such trends in European academic art as romanticism (acquiring new traits by becoming an “Eastern branch” of this stylistic tradition), impressionism and neo-folklorism (Aimukhambet et al., 2017). The researcher also shares valuable observations and conclusions concerning the characteristics and distinctive features of national regional styles: Xinjiang, Shanbei, Guangdong, and Sichuan. The scholar finds their vivid elements in the works of Guo Zhihong – “Xinjiang Dance”, Song Yiqiang – “Spring Dance”, Ding Shande – “Xinjiang Dance No.1” (“xinjiang Style”); Wang Lisan – “Lan Huhua”, Ye Lusheng – “The Story of Lan Huhua”, Zhou Guangren – Variations on a Theme of a Shanbei Folk Song, Chu Wanhua – “Sky of Liberated Areas” (“shanbei style”); Wang Jianzhong – “Clouds Catching up with the Moon” and Chen Peixun – “Autumn Moon Over a Quiet Lake” (“guangdong style”); Huang Huwei – suite “Paintings of Bashu”, Li Yinghai – “Rapeseed Blossom”, “When the Huaihua Flower Blossoms” and Chu Wanghua – “Love Song of Canding” (“sichuan style”).

The study of Chinese folk art in the context of the latest digital software is also actively taking place in contemporary research practice, as it promotes the integration of this branch of musical culture into the professional academic art of the present period. In particular, the Layered Stability Detection (LSD) sound segmentation algorithm and systems (HMM-GMM models) for recognising the internal content, character and audio quality of folklore samples in different regions of the country are analysed through experiments (Li et al., 2017). An in-depth comprehension of the styles inherent in the various areas of China is explored, among other things, through the SVM classifier. It combines the ability to read aural samples of folklore with the possibility of conveying the visual characteristics of their internal content (through the use of colour frequency-time maps) (Yang et al., 2018). The systematisation of Chinese folklore, according to its regional affiliation and style, also takes place by means of developments in the field of automatic classification of folk art music samples. For this purpose, the CRF-RBM model, which combines a conditional field (CRF) and the technical arsenal of a Boltzmann machine (RBM) (Li et al., 2019), is put into operation.

One of the achievements of the discipline integrating musical art and engineering was the creation of the MG-VAE audio design generator model, based on the automatic coding element VAE, capable of perceiving and displaying the style of works and actually algorithms for generating new themes from samples of Chinese folk culture (Luo et al., 2019).

The study of the ethics, theory and practice of instrumental music in southern China is the subject of Hui’s work. He defines xizhu as the category representing a chamber ensemble made up of stringed and wind instruments, as well as a regional tradition in the Yangtze Delta region of eastern China known as Jiangnan xizhu. The scholar argues from the point of view of traditional Chinese music scholar Alan Thrasher that there are four leading ensemble styles developed in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. Analysing musical forms and styles, as well as – the numerological order according to which the repertoire is constructed, the nature of the phrasing and scale of the ensemble, the harmony basis – pentatonics, and the ideology of yi yang, Thrasher concludes that these components are imbued with ideals associated with Confucian culture (Hui, 2014; Begalinova et al., 2020).

Mezentseva discusses the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries in the context of intercultural dialogue of the Asia-Pacific region countries in her study. It looks in detail at the artistic traditions of indigenous peoples and the East Slavic migratory culture of the Russian Far East, as well as – countries of the Asia-Pacific region outside Russia. The author interprets the role of music and computer technologies in musical culture and education in the Far East of Russia and China, as the most important component of interaction in the field of academic music, focuses on the problems of informatization of modern musical education, and concludes on the unique experience of composition in China based on the traditional music of the Russian Far East (Mukhitov et al., 2020; Varii et al., 2020). The pentatonic basis of the Chinese harmony system, close to the modal organisation of the music of Far Eastern ethnic groups, which is also the basis of the musical folklore of Russian Far Eastern composers, stands out in particular. The author sees this as the basis for the interaction of cultures in the Far Eastern region, which is recognised as an important aspect from the perspective of creating a holistic multicultural space based on the principles of humanism (Aleksandrova et al., 2018; Mezentseva, 2021).

A cultural phenomenon in the history of art and, in particular, Chinese music, such as synesthesia, which combines local opera, poetry, painting and garden design, is also explored in the publications of scholars. They emphasise the mentality of the country’s inhabitants, where the leading force is intuition, a factor of enlightened thought attained in the process of meditation and contemplation. A roadmap for the study of synaesthesia in Chinese art has also been presented by specialists (Xiong et al., 2015). The study of researcher Chen describes the founding father of such a branch of Chinese professional academic music as instrumental art – Huang Tzu. He pays particular attention to analysing the incorporation of the principles of European professional traditions into national art. In particular, he cites the following works by Tzu: the symphonic overture “In memoriam”, the orchestral piece “Fairytale City”, the polyphonic piano works – Prelude “The Story from Bach”, “Two two-voice inventions” and three fugues in a formal style. The specialist calls for a deeper and more comprehensive study of the composer’s heritage by domestic musicologists (Chen, 2019).

The works of Chinese composers of the “Realism Era”, which extends from 1949 to 1976, is the central theme of Dai Yu’s dissertation. He analyses such aspects of the activities performed by representatives of the academic professional music field as the development of major European-type genres and forms (the symphony), the implementation of programming principles in instrumental works, and the realisation of characteristic playing techniques on folk instruments and their combination with symphonic orchestral instruments. The scholar also notes that composers address the traditional temporal organisation of musical material – the even two- and four-barreled banshi metres, the free aperiodic “sanban” style of improvisational type, and forms of rondo varieties, which are favourites in Chinese folk music. In terms of tendencies and techniques of composition, phenomena such as avant-garde, minimalism and methods of creating compositions such as pointillism and repetition in a short time were tested by the composers of the “period of openness”, expressing themselves in original results with a unique Chinese character (Romaniuk, 2021). The analyst encourages the discovery of aspects of the national music associated with harmonies smaller in sound scale than the pentatonic, and the exploration of ritual genres of Chinese folklore (Yu, 2017).

The problem of creation and functioning in the 20th century and in contemporary Chinese culture of a new type of traditional instrument orchestras, as well as the large-scale genre of academic music – symphony, is actively studied (Yan, 2018). In his dissertation, Yan Jianan explains the principles of the implementation of national traditions in professional composing art (on the example of Xu Changjun’s music). He brings into focus the process of merging folk origins and contemporary composition techniques (the New Wave movement), reflecting styles such as Stravinsky and Bartók’s neo-folklorism and the avant-garde (with its inherent dodecaphony, aleatoric music, minimalism and use of electronic instruments). A modified version of the intonation structure, chords, and timbre drama of modern compositions is also analysed in detail (Jianan, 2020).

This theme is also explored by Li Yun in his dissertation “Wang Jianzhong’s Piano Works”. He highlights the composer’s genre priorities, his reflection of the traditions of linear thinking as a peculiarity of Chinese folk music (zhongqian), his characteristic style of arranging musical themes, where specific folk ornamentation is used through the melismatics of the piano, melodies based on national harmony system, both in their natural “pure” version and in combination with composition techniques of the 20th-21st centuries. In particular, the researcher reveals the types of Chinese “pentatonic dodecaphony row”. He believes that this aspect serves to resolve the conflict between the atonal quality of dodecaphony and the traditional harmony structure of Chinese national music. This is achieved through the following principles and methods of working with the material: structuring the series; introducing folk harmony into the created series; using traditional folk rhythms in the series; introducing classical tonal elements into the theme (Yun, 2019).

The second half of the 20th century was also marked by an active process of developing folk sources in Chinese composers’ piano music (folk songs and dances, poetry and literature, “gohua” paintings). Despite the pronounced integration of Chinese composer music into the world and European culture in particular, the preservation of the national style and spirit is facilitated by the imitation of the sound of folk instruments, the reliance on folk harmonies, intonations and rhythms (Abdullina & Sun, 2018). However, the overall picture-panorama, which demonstrates the process of integrating folk and, in particular, instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, still remains unexplored. This has prompted the author of this study to collect, examine and systematically analyse the available material in order to investigate the topic in question.

Conclusions

The problem of integrating folk instrumental art into the works of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries is a complex and multifaceted one. It is based on such multi-component spheres as the system of means of musical expression and the complex of technical means of implementing folklore sources in a professional academic field. The analysis of each of the spheres makes it possible to identify their categories, as well as to define and characterise these components. The system of means of musical expression consists of harmony and intonation structure; meter and rhythm; texture; timbres of instruments; methods of sound production; genre; compositional form. The complex of technical means of reflecting national musical samples are represented by: engineering and technical basis for collecting and recording folklore material; its processing in that variant, which is peculiar to individual style of a composer. The embodiment of the art of traditional instrumentalists in the professional academic music of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries resulted in the emergence of such genres of the national musical culture as transcriptions, pieces, etudes, suites, as well as large-scale forms: symphony, concerto for solo instrument with symphony orchestra, rhapsody.

The mastery of Chinese composers and their adherence to deep national traditions manifested itself in the organic, highly professional combination of such polar systems of harmony thinking as pentatonic (reflected in the yun-gong-diao complex) and tonal-functional as well as dodecaphony-serial systems. The unity of these spheres is reflected in both melodic and chord-harmonic aspects. The techniques of playing Chinese folk instruments are finely implemented in music for piano, saxophone, vocal interpretation and other timbres. They are actively incorporated by composers into classical ensembles of the European type and give a quantitatively new sound to the music in general. Thus, the process of integrating folk instrumental music into the professional art of Chinese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries turned out to be profound and fruitful. It has undeniable prospects for implementation in the music of subsequent generations. The phenomenon under consideration also provides inexhaustible ground for the research work of scientists all over the world.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

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Gay Subculture, AIDS, and Neo-Decadence: 1980s in Will Self’s Dorian: An Imitation (2002)

Gender Studies/V14N2

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Jyotirmoy Sil

Assistant Professor, Department of English. Malda College, Malda, West Bengal, India. E-Mail: siljyotirmoy@gmail.com

ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0003-2470-2587

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.18

First published: June 26, 2022 | Area: Gender Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

Will Self’s Dorian: An Imitation (2002) provides a glimpse to the gay subculture of 1980s’ London and New York, and contextualizes the issues like AIDS epidemic and gay liberation movement. The shown attributes of the gay subculture including the queer fashion trends, drug consumptions, and unprotected gay sex even at the risk of HIV transmission parallel the hedonistic and counter-normative ‘decadent’ aspects of Oscar Wilde’s source–text, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Cathode Narcissus, the video installation capturing the naked male beauty, makes Dorian the ‘dis-embodied’ model/emblem for gay pride in a digital era and marks the posthumanist shift in the new form of decadence or neo-decadence. This paper, with respect to Self’s Dorian: An Imitation, would engage to explore how the attributes of 1980s’ urban gay subculture and rapid transmission of HIV among gays come under the paradigm of neo-decadence in the fin de siècle (meaning, “end of the century”) of the twentieth century.

Keywords: gay subculture, homosexuality, AIDS, drugs, neo-decadence, decadence.

Introduction

“[…] what if the whole giddy rondo had the air of the fin de siècle about it? Because it was the end of the twentieth century, […] a hundred years of willed decline.” (Self, 2002, p. 267)

In an interview with Robert McCrum for The Guardian (September 29, 2002), Will Self commented that his Dorian: An Imitation (2002), an “appropriation”^[1] of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), will pursue the readers to trace the correlation between “the decadence of the 1880s and the decadence of 1980s” (McCrum, 2002). Decadence, reflecting the obsessive indulgence in pleasure and relative moral decline, ennui and counter-normative tendencies (MacLeod, 2006, p. 1, Charlesworth, 1965, p. xv), appeared as one of the counter cultural movements of the nineteenth century’s fin de siècle (meaning, in French, “end of the century”[2]). The gay subculture[3] of the 1980s’ London and New York in Self’s Dorian: An Imitation mirrors the decadent aspects like narcissism, cynicism, sexual perversity, hedonistic inclinations and artificiality perceived in Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian: An Imitation gives the glimpses of the private lives of urban gay characters, their intoxicating drug consumptions, scenes of gay bars, gay village, and contextualizes the prevalent issues of eighties like rapid outbreak of HIV among gays, and gay liberation movement. Self’s narrative, set in the digital era, bestows a posthumanist scope as well for, here, a video installation capturing the appealing ‘gay’ beauty replaces the mysterious painting that seemingly consumed Dorian’s degeneration in Wilde’s source-text. This paper would attempt to explore how the constituents of West’s urban ‘gay subculture’, rapid transmission of HIV amongst gays, and the posthumanist purview, as presented in Self’s Dorian: An Imitation, come under the paradigm of the renovated form of decadence, or neo-decadence, in the twentieth century’s fin de siècle.

“Air of the fin de siècle”: Decadence to Neo-Decadence

The term “decadence” was first used to connote the denial of the banal moral values, hedonistic perversity, and exploration of sensual passion as a subversive force by Theophile Gautier in his introduction to the 1868 version of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleur du Mal (Gilman, 1979, p. 89). In Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray decadence is betrayed through the fascinating narcissism of Dorian Gray, Basil Hall’s homoerotic sensation for Dorian, influence of Henry’s toxic philosophy, Dorian’s opium addiction, his obsession with aesthetic perfection leading to abandon Sybil Vane, the stage actress, and his “spiritual and moral perversity” (Symons, 1893/1974, p. 72). Although, homosexuality as a decadent yearn for “rare sensations” (MacLeod, 2006, p. 1) appeared in several French texts like Jean Lorrain’s Monsieur de Bougrelon (1897) and Monsieur de Phocus (1901) (Hawthorne, 2019, p. 203), Catulle Mendes’s Mephistophelia (1890), the memoir of the French lesbian woman Liane de Pougy (Anne Marie Chassaigne) Idylle saphique (Sapphic Idyll) (1901) (Hawthorne, 2019, p. 204), in English literature it was a rare aspect, perhaps, because of the Christian’s sacrilegious tag and England’s legal ban on homosexuality/sodomy. Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) presents male-male homosexual hints with sly implicitness. To cite one instance, Basil Hall’s “curious sensation of terror” (Wilde, 1891/2001, p.9) and sudden “crisis” (p.9) after meeting Dorian is analogous to Gustav Von Aschenbach’s nightmare where he yields himself to a phallic idol (Mann, 1912/2004, 45) and reckons his homosexual attraction for the boy Tadzio in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.

The term “neo-decadent” was first used in aesthetic criticism by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), an Italian film director, in a review of Federico Fellini’s (1920-1993) films titled “The Catholic Irrationalism of Fellini” (1960/1984) to refer the “purposeful exaggeration of feeling and imagery” (Demers, 1984, p. 64), use of “the unusual and the morbid to shock our feelings and even to violate our sensibilities” (1984, p. 64), distortion of the “realism” (1984, p. 64), and the expression of cynicism (Padolini, 1960/1984, p. 72). Brain M. Reed, in exploring queerness and fashion consciousness in the poems of Djuna Barnes (The Book of Repulsive Women, 1915) and Hart Crane in his book Hart Crane: After His Lights (2006), mentions of “US neo-Decadence” (Reed, 2006, p. 52) of 1920s that sought extremity in queer representations (Reed, 2006, p. 52). Brendan Connell, in “The First Manifesto of Neo-Decadence” (2010/2018), puts that the neo-decadent writers resort artificiality and synthetic sensation in writing and seek to implore the “fragmented, the contorted, the unfinished” (Connell, 2010/2018) and often lousiness. Colby Smith in his lecture titled “Neo-Decadence: A Very Brief Introduction” at Alden Library, Ohio University, Athens Campus on 29th January, 2018, points out the following tenets and demands of the post-2000 version of neo-decadence:

It is anti-Capitalist, anti-Consumerist […] against sincerity […] that seeks to tell a story from the heart. […] It promotes deeply experimental scenarios and prose including explicit endorsement of lack of character development and story arc. […] [I]t rejects the overtly fantastic. (Smith, 2018, January 29, 00.02.39-00.03.56)

However, Daniel Corrick, in “Introduction” to Drowning in Beauty: The Neo-Decadent Anthology (2018), comments that neo-decadence is the “updated” version of the “content of the original Decadence” in “a contemporary setting and tackling or at least incorporating modern preoccupations” and both the decadences are “not merely styles but a mode of consciousness, dying, decaying, growing and mutating as its objects do” (Corrick, 2018). In Self’s Dorian: An Imitation “[s]treet fashion synergised with pop music, pop music energised politics” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 267), conceptual artists’ “distorted cartoons” (p. 267), televisions, internet, perplexing digitalized bodies, increasing number of drug addicts, homosexuals and homophobes, gay liberation movement created the neo-decadent “dying, decaying” (Corrick, 2018, p. 267), “fragmented” (Connell, 2010/2018, p. 15), “contorted” (p. 15) and “queer” (Reed, 2006, p. 52) “air of the fin de siècle” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 267) in the 1980s’ London and New York.

Gay Liberation, Cathode Narcissus and Neo-Decadence

The homophile protests during late 1950s and early 1960s in the United States had paved the way for the constructive gay liberation movement (D Emilio, 1983, p. 224). ‘Stonewall riot’ in June 27, 1969 marked the initiation of modern gay liberation movement in America and Europe (Cruikshank, 1992, p. 3). During 1980s, in America, the gay community manifested themselves as “powerful minority” (Cruikshank, 1992, p.72) and emphatically expressed their “pride” (p. 75) of being gay. Dorian is among—what Baz calls—the “first gay generation to come out of the shadows” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 12); “unashamed” (p. 12) to disclose their true sexual orientation in public. Cathode Narcissus is launched on internet for free by Dorian’s “The Gray Organization” to endorse “[m]ale beauty” (Self, 2002/2003, pp. 270-71) and contribute in instilling the sense of “a new mature pride in homosexual identity” (p. 271) among the members of gays. Cathode Narcissus functions in supporting the ‘gay liberation’ movement and strengthens the resistance against the social polarization of gay community’s as “an underclass, or a persecuted ethnic minority” (2002/2003, p. 271).

Dennis Denisoff, in his article “‘A Disembodied Voice’: The Posthuman Formlessness of Decadence” (2013), argues that the decadent poetics is not merely set of doctrines in the background of a particular era but this is about “formulation of a broader spiritualism exploring the boundaries of the self, the human, and the otherworldly” (p. 182), and the posthuman “shift” (p. 184) of decadence makes one recognize “human” as “fundamentally prosthetic creature that has coevolved with various forms of technicity and materiality, forms that are radically ‘non-human’” (p. 184) and “this ever-changing, multi-perspectival world is not an ideal toward which to strive, but a reality that already exists but still needs to be recognized” (184). Posthuman decadence is not about “capturing, but of playing most seriously with a transmutational, dis-embodied model of being” (Denisoff, 2013, p. 198). In Dorian: An Imitation, the wide circulation of Cathode Narcissus, the video installation created by Baz portraying the “gorgeous” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 42) nude body of Dorian through internet, functions to make Dorian a ‘dis-embodied’ model for gay pride. Hence, in Dorian: An Imitation, the role of Cathode Narcissus in gay liberation movement of 1980s, captures the posthumanist shift in the neo-decadence. The owner of The Gray Organization’s (Dorian) wishes to showcase his naked “perfection” to the public by affording the cost of Cathode Narcissus and its availability on internet with the self-indulgent inscription on its homepage, “Download Some Perfection Today” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 270), reflects neo-decadent narcissism as well.

At a “charity event” (Self, 2002, p. 34), “a classless John” (p. 34) describes Wotton as “fucking dodgy … like a junky as well as a toff” (p. 34). In response, as Dorian perceives that the comment is also meant for him, ‘“And a queer…you forgot to say queer”’ (p. 34). Queer’s primary meaning without any socio-traditional context is “strange; odd” (Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 1777). Etymologically, the word “queer” came from German “quer” meaning, “oblique, perverse” (Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 1777). As per Concise Oxford English Dictionary, word “queer”, from the early twentieth century, usually mean “homosexual”, basically, in a “deliberately derogatory” sense “when used by heterosexual people” (Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 1777). While the gay liberation movement was taking its peak in the 1990s (specifically in United States), the gay protestors resorted to consider the word “queer” with positive vibes. A leaflet titled Queers Read This: The Queer Nation Manifesto was distributed amongst people attending the New York Pride March in June, 1990. This leaflet declared that being “queer” is being “revolutionary” (1990, p. 1) and they deserve “same freedom of movement and sexuality, as straits” (1990, p. 1).

Gay Subculture, Drugs and Neo-Decadence

West’s urban gay communities are often popularly associated with the following — drug (often illicit and arousing) addiction, excessive alcohol consumptions, effeminacy (of gay men), gay sex, queer make ups and attires, tattooed body, piercings, gay bars. In Self’s Dorian: An Imitation, too, Dorian, Baz, Henry Wotton and other gay characters are irrecoverably addicted to drugs, and, at times, their desire of sodomy seems to be drug-induced effect. Baz perceived New York to be full of “gay scene” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 89) and “saturated with drugs” (p. 89). Wotton’s monograph gives a glimpse to the sombre gay bar on 12th Street, Mineshaft, New York:

[W]onkily partitioned room succeeded warped vestibules, each filthier and ranker than the last with odour of faces and semen and poppers. All around was the thawalk of flesh on flesh, with its ragged accompaniment– the gaunts and groans of effortful coition. (p. 95)

Beatty, Geckle, Kapner, Lewis and Sandstorm, in “Gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals” (1999), has shown how “substance use and abuse” (Beatty et al., 1999, p. 545) are a common factor in gay communities. According to Meyer (2003), homosexuals, being driven by the “minority stress” (p. 676) and several subjective “proximal” (p. 676) stresses of which fear of “rejection” (p. 677), “concealment” (p. 677) of homosexual identity, “internalized homophobia” (p. 677), imbibe “distil” (p. 677) approach towards mainstream society. And, the homosexuals’ sense of being members of a “stigmatized” (Meyer, 2003, p. 677) community “with others who are like them rather than with members of the dominant [heteronormative] culture” (p. 677) and the urge of belongingness operate largely behind the subjective existence of ‘gay subculture’. Soho, in London, is a quite well-known for the gay bars and its streets are favourite meeting spots for LGBTQ people (Haslop et al., 1998, p. 319). Dorian visits Soho “three afternoons a week” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 18) and he is seen attending clubs like Sealink Club (p. 200), Quo Vadis (p. 267) in Soho. Herman, in Self’s Dorian: An Imitation, a rent-boy who also supplies drugs to Dorian is also from Soho (p. 214). In Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the youths’ opium addiction mirrors the decadent “seeking after rare sensations” (MacLeod, 2006, p. 1). “Blue-Gate Fields” (Wilde, 1891/2003, p. 112), referred to as one of the infamous places that Dorian frequently visited, was “notorious for opium houses and sailors’ brothels” (Drew, 2001, p. 192). Lord Henry is described to smoke “opium-tainted cigarette” (Wilde, 1891/2003, p. 6). The “opium dens” (Wilde, 1891/2003, p. 146) were visited by the opium addicts like Dorian seeking to experience opium induced momentary delusion and unique sensory numbness. As Barbara Charlesworth (1965) relates, ‘decadence’ sought to attain “as many moments as possible of heightened sensory experience, enjoyed within the mind outside the society” (p. xv). Significantly, in Foucault’s conception, drug inducement functions as a mode of counter-traditionalism that works through “sado-masochism” (Eribor, 1989/1991, p. 315). In Self’s text, the member of London and New York’s gay communities’ obsession for drug induced delusion and synesthesia conform to the neo-decadent urge to attain extremity as a mode of obsession.

Tattoos, piercings, and other unique ways of representing ‘body’, flamboyancy often are related to “queer” identity. In Self’s Dorian, there is also a brief glimpse of the gay village in Fitzrovia where the gays are seen wearing the fetish dresses willing to be spotted as queer:

Here, in Fitzrovia, close to both the hospital complex and the burgeoning gay village, there was a preponderance of homosexual men. They sported greased hair, pencil-like facial hair, earrings and white vests, the better to show off their easy-to-wipe skin tones. Some were gaunt-jawed and slope-shouldered, others were pumping up and overly active. (Self, 2002/2003, p. 74)

Justin Isis, in his blog, in introducing his book Neo-Decadent Manifesto of Women’s Fashion (2019) emphasizes on the necessity of depicting the absurdity and distinctiveness in the neo-decadence to afflict “our current age of sartorial stagnation and accelerated resource depletion” (Isis, 2019, March 11). Hence, the queer attires and make-ups that are often identified to the gay community’s common behavioural pattern do intersect with the neo-decadent decorum. In fact, neo-decadence seeks “ecstasy in extremes” (Corrick, 2018) and, in an “obscure” era of technological advancement, anything—clothes, trends in fashion, tattoos, recreational drugs, musical sub-cultures, cosmetics, photography or whatever— that becomes the “subject of obsessions, damnations and salvations” (Corrick, 2018) comes under the neo-decadent paradigm.

Homosexuality, AIDS epidemic in the Eighties and Heteronormative Politics

In Self’s text, Dorian becomes the “Aids Mary, the malevolent and intentional transmitter of the virus” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 112) among gays. However, the “Epilogue” section of the novel reveals that all the earlier pages, in fact, form the semi-delusional monograph of Wotton who recently died in AIDS. The outbreak of AIDS epidemic in the eighties, as shown in Self’s Dorian: An Imitation, does not deter the gays to engage in the unprotected anal intercourses. As Wotton comments, “to die for the love of boys would be a beautiful death” (Self, 2002/2003, p. 59). However, Wotton’s fascination for imbibing “beautiful death” (Self, 2002, p. 59) in pursuing sensual pleasure gets disillusioned by the sufferings that AIDS caused,

I am saying we all need a heavily forested interior to maintain life on Planet Arse, but unfortunately antibiotics have completely logged my interior, and for months now, I’ve been subject to the most appalling flatulence. […] I can tell you my diarrhoea is the thing that keeps me fit. […] As I say, wrestling with Mr. Arse has been exhausting, but my sight has settled into a beneficent state of impairment. (Self, 2002, p. 182)

In fact, in the 1980s, gay sex was presumed to be the reason behind the spread of HIV virus. Numerous inauthentic articles published in various newspapers popularized this hype^[4]. On May 11, 1982, The New York Times alternatively named AIDS as “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency” (GRID)^[5]. Unprotected sex and commonly seen drug addiction among the gay people were held responsible for the rapid spread of HIV virus among gay people in the nineties. The reason was not only the proven immunity disruptive functions of addictive substance and drugs in human body, but also because of the first suspected appearance of AIDS (in the name of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia or PCP) in December, 1981 in five men who used to engage in homosexual acts and took drug-injections (History of HIV and AIDS Overview, n.d). John L. Martin, in “Drug Use and Unprotected Anal Intercourse Among Gay Men” (1990) (published in Health Psychology journal (9(4)), based on a research survey carried out on gay men in 605, New York City, from 1984 to 1987, shows the gay men who engaged in “unprotected anal intercourse” (p. 451) and consumed the “substance” (p. 462) including “amphetamines” (p. 461), “cocaine”, (p. 461) “marijuana” (p. 461) in regular basis (which, most of them did) were more vulnerable to HIV infection during the nineties’ AIDS epidemic in America (p. 462). This AIDS outbreak in the 1980s and the rapid transmission of HIV amongst the gays became a reason for the governments and heterosexists to oppose gay empowerment and suppress ‘gay liberation’ movement. The leaflet (Queers Read This: The Queer Nation Manifesto) distributed in the New York Pride March in June, 1990 also claimed that the false accusation of spreading AIDS was being imposed on queers to “wipe [them] off” (1990, p. 2).

Conclusion

According to Alan Sinfield (1998), the hypothetically “alleged universal culture” (p. 81) of the gays that goes beyond “locality, gender, sexual orientation, race” seeking “to subordinate other cultures” (p. 81) is non-existent. Mark Simpson (1995) derogatorily tagged the gay subculture as delusional “Underwear Cult” (p. 2). Beatty, Geckle, Kapner, Lewis and Sandstorm, in “Gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals” (1999), argue that the term “gay”, itself, in “social, cultural, and affective dimensions” (p. 542), denotes “subculture” (p. 542). But spatially separate gay communities cannot be homogenized as part of a universal gay subculture or based on any shared behavioural commonalities (Beatty et al., 1999, p. 542). The term Post-gay emphasizes the necessity of dissociating the gay community’s behavioral patterns from the mass-media’s stereotypical portrayal of gays. Gay subculture can neither be considered as an umbrella concept that singularly covers every gay community, nor can be related to “sharply definable communities” (Beatty et al., 1999, p. 542) of gays and lesbians with common character, attitude and values. Even each gay subculture has non-intermixable “small subdivisions” (Beatty et al., 1999, p. 542). Yet, as Self’s Dorian: An Imitation suggests, in the 1980s, a heteronormative political discourse sought to tag AIDS as a gay-epidemic and identify the gay men with some reckless urban gay subculture that indulges in gaining extremity of sensual and sensuous pleasure. Undoubtedly, in Self’s novel, the semblance of 1980s urban gay subculture complies with the popular conjectures about the same, and somewhat, homogenizes the urban gay characters as alcoholics, drug addicts, and extreme sensual pleasure seekers who engage in unprotected sex even at the utmost risk of HIV contamination. Hence, within the narrative of Dorian: An Imitation, AIDS infected bodies of the gays signify the neo-decadent extremity and hedonism inherent in the gay subculture of eighties’ London and New York.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

Notes:

^[1] Self’s rewriting can be better explained as, in the terminology of Julie Sanders (2006), “appropriation” (p. 26) as even though Self’s storyline parallels that of Wilde’s, the recontextualization of the story in a different time setting and relative alteration make it an altogether ‘new’ one (Sanders, 2006, pp. 26-27).

[2] Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 512.

[3] West’s urban gay “culture” is referred here as gay “subculture” as this is a segment of broader cultural domain yet goes against the heterosexist and homophobic society’s traditional decorum of normativity (often undocumented).

^[4] See Timothy E. Cook and David C. Colby, p. 95.

^[5] See “A Timeline of HIV and AIDS”.

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Mr. Jyotirmoy Sil is serving as an Assistant Professor of English in Malda College, Malda, West Bengal. His research areas include neo-Victorianism, homosexual literature, and gay subculture.

‘Illusionary Homelands’ and In-Between Identities: Liminal Existence of the ‘Indian (Non)-Diaspora’

Diasporic Literature/Postcolonial/V14N2

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Raisun Mathew¹& Digvijay Pandya²

¹ Assistant Professor of English, Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Bangalore, & Doctoral Research Scholar, Department of English, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India, Email: raisunmathew@gmail.com, orcid.org/0000-0003-3427-0941

²Associate Professor, Department of English, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India, Email: digvijay.24354@lpu.co.in, orcid.org/0000-0002-5985-9579

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.17

First published: June 26, 2022 | Area: Postcolonial | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

The influence of colonialism and the emergence of globalisation have gradually induced a mixed culture that neither can be attached to the innateness of the traditionalist attributes of the home country nor the foreignness of the Western idiosyncrasies. Though not directly clipped into the identity of a diaspora in spatial existence, the residents in the country also experience an equal or more departure in the context of perpetuating the traditional culture through their lifestyle. There arises an in-between state of existence – neither traditional nor foreign. This research article explores how the residents in India possess alienation in their cultural identities concerning the hybrid forms of lifestyle followed regularly, qualifying to be termed based on the regularity of lifestyle as the ‘Indian non-diaspora’. The argument about the liminal existence of the residents in India, similar to the Indian Diaspora, is substantiated with the help of various secondary sources that describe the three factors selected for analysis. The research article would provide insights on the residents of the country from the perspective of the still-prevailing hegemonic influence of colonialism, the ongoing globalisation effects and the traditionally existing multiculturalism in the country.

Keywords: diaspora, globalisation, hybrid, liminal, multiculturalism, postcolonialism.

Introduction

Multiculturalism in India has become a challenging factor that equally divides and unites the unique and diverse features of the country. Existing with distinct and native characteristics in various spheres, including the geographical, linguistic, cultural, historical, and political aspects, the diversity of India has always been appreciated by the world community. With the expression of both micro and macro-level identities at the same time, the essence of the nativity, with a history of centuries in terms of the culture and lifestyle of the people in the country is challenged by the advent of external influences. With the increasing influence of globalisation, there has recently been a rapid intermixing of native culture and lifestyle with that of the foreign. Prior to the development of technological advancements and the gradual expansion of the Western world’s possibilities brought about by the globalisation process, the forced and voluntary amalgamation of colonial interests by foreign powers into the land and its people had initiated an increased deviation from the naturally inherited culture and lifestyle.

Though, from a general viewpoint, it is a common notion that the diaspora is subject to foreign influences exerted by the host land in which they live. Along with the intervention of time and active involvement with the distinguishable peculiarities of the host country, the diaspora is gradually shifted from the culture and practices followed in their home country to the newly discovered identity showcased by the host country. This process of inclusion is gradual and time-consuming depending on the factors that control the diaspora’s ability to adapt to changing situations. Discussions and arguments based on the inclination of the residents of the home country – whether towards their native culture and lifestyle or the foreign – have created confusion about the identity that is projected in such conditions of non-diaspora. Keeping in mind the shift that is evident in the diaspora community, this research article discusses the current situation of the Indian non-diaspora who reside within the boundaries of their home country and are equally influenced by native and foreign cultures. The analysis of the research revolves around the various factors that define their identity as part of the known and unknown influence of the residues of colonialism and the increasing presence of Westernisation in society as a result of the various possibilities of globalisation. The undergrounding factor behind the intention of this research is to determine whether the residents of India, similar to the Indian diaspora, experience the in-between state of living by becoming liminal entities having no static permanence in being attached to either their native or the foreign influence on their culture and lifestyle, thus altering the innateness of their identities. In this context, the very notion of diaspora touched on by Salman Rushdie is relevant. He says, “It’s my present that is foreign, and that the past is home” (Rushdie, 1991, p. 9). The existence of the residents from the cultural aspect of the country is said to be foreign, while the traditional qualities of culture, mostly authentic during the past, are the actual home, which is ignored. With the passage of time, colonial imperialism, its continuing hegemony, and the more powerful globalisation effects have created a sense of alienation from innateness and authentic cultural identity.

Theoretical Review: Postcolonialism, Globalisation, and Multiculturalism

To provide the necessary clarity to the discussion on the research problem highlighted in the article, a brief idea of the correlation between postcolonialism, globalisation, and multiculturalism in the Indian context is required. It assists in tracing how the result of the three produces an identity crisis, leading to an in-between state of neither thrusting onto one nor the other, but having a significant influence on both in forming an identity that is not constrained by the limits of either native or foreign origin.

The postcolonial period continues to have its effect on the lands and the people who were once a part of the process of colonisation conducted by the countries that were powerful, dominant and imperialist. Though the countries that suffered under the rule of the colonial powers became independent, the imprints of colonisation in terms of architecture, language, culture, lifestyle, etc. still conduct their hegemonic rule on the victims. Therefore, the term does not mean the end of colonialism but rather denotes the continuity of a similar type of colonialism successive to the period of high imperialism and colonial occupation (Drew, 1999, p. 230). In the colonial history of India, the major share has been played by the British East India Company, which led to disturbances in the political, cultural, and economic spheres of the country. The influence of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch cannot be excluded as the unfortunate inclinations towards domination were initiated on the people by them in the different selected parts of India. The imposition of the belief that it is the ‘white man’s burden’ to revive the culture of the third world led to the practice of marginalisation that was produced at the high point of imperialism (Mishra and Hodge, 2005, p. 380).

Globalisation acts as an extension of the hegemonic influence of the residues of colonialism grounded in imperial ideology, signalling a higher level of economic, cultural, and social cross-border networks than before, with the peculiarity of appearing to be shrinking rather than the old method of expanding territories (Hoogvelt, 1997, p. xiv). It is hinged on the compression of the world and global consciousness, affecting national cultures and negating cultural boundaries, thus recreating the continuing history of imperialism of capitalist development and expansion (Akoh, 2008, p. 165). With the creation of a global village that promotes the exchange of various distinguishing factors such as culture and lifestyle, the identities that have a strong bond with nativity are altered concerning the proximity of influence exerted by foreign cultures. The imperialistic colonisation of the Western world, especially that of Britain, is more effectively continued through its hegemonic subjugation using language, culture, and many more direct and indirect attributes connected with its present existence as independent entities. Post-colonialism is an extension of capitalism for Frantz Fanon as it is strongly based on the theory and practice of exploitation (Fanon & Phicox, 2004). Globalisation goes in terms with the ideologies followed by the post-colonial world but on the view contended by Homi Bhaba that mutual recognitions are possible through interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds (Bhabha, 1994).

Multiculturalism has been argued as a critique of orientalism (Runnymede, 1997) as it has its roots based not firmly on the representation of the East as subordinate to the West. In a multicultural society, an amalgamation of every aspect of living that makes a community through the recognition of the variety of traits and identities occurs amid conflicts and tussles (Chettri and Tripathi, 2019, p. 6). This speciality of multiculturalism is most evident in the social situation of India, where several cultural identities within the nation are often separated from each other to be united as a whole. For example, the cultural characteristics of a person living in the state of Kerala differ from those of a person in West Bengal, who follows a different lifestyle. With geographic and linguistic differences, the other factors associated with it change, making it an entirely different experience to experience India’s diversity.

The qualitative approach followed in this research article utilises descriptive analysis with the help of secondary data that substantiates the altered nature of the culture and lifestyle of the people who reside within the geographic jurisdiction of India. For analysis, certain factors that define the current status of people, such as language, food habits, and clothing fashion, are considered in the article. These three factors are selected for analysis as they are more closely related to the daily lives of people in India. Through the gathering of details about the present situation of the three factors among Indians who reside in their homeland, the shift from the innate roots of the traditional and cultural aspects of the country is traced. The discussions based on the altered characteristics of the three factors, and also its traditional roots as a result of the influence of postcolonialism and globalisation are conducted to state the presence of liminal existence of the residents in India similar to the alienation and identity crisis experienced by the Indian diaspora.

The Micro and Macro Identities

Due to the diversity that provides multiple identities for a person at the same time, the identity of an Indian citizen who resides in their homeland cannot be easily specified to just one. Being an Indian, the person might also be known based on the geographical distribution, as per the categorisation of different states and union territories, on linguistic terms, grounded on the peculiarities of the locality in which the person lives, and even also according to the cultural, religious, and racial characteristics. According to this perspective of intersectionality, a person having the macro identity as an Indian can also possess different micro identities such as south Indian, north Indian, Tamil, Brahmin, Punjabi, Hindu, tribal, and so on. Within a large frame of having the single identity of being an Indian who resides in the home country, the person will also be known based on several micro identities. As per the geographical and cultural peculiarities of India, the way of living changes with each hundred or two hundred kilometres. For example, even if one single language is spoken in a state, the accent and dialect change with each district within the state. Shashi Tharoor argues his points on the multiculturalism and pluralism of India to reveal that no one has the exact archetypal ‘Indianness’ as to how a Russian or British citizen can easily claim. These thoughts make all citizens in India unique in their own right, as well as, in some ways, confined to their own boundaries. He writes in his essay “The Idea of India: India’s Mosaic of Multiplicities” that this availability of multiculturalism is unique and tolerant to an extent under the strict premises of the Indian constitution, democracy, judiciary, and legislature (Tharoor, 2014, p. 111).

Salman Rushdie comments about the Indian diaspora who are away from the geographical and cultural reachability of their home country that,

physical alienation from India almost inevitably means that we will not be capable of reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost; that we will, in short, create, fictions, not actual cities or villages but invisible ones, imaginary homelands, Indias of the mind. (Rushdie, 1991, p. 10)

The same multiple identities are present in the case of the eating culture followed by the resident Indians. On a wider platform of analysis, the macro identity of following the cuisine of Indian variety in foods is entitled to a person who resides in India. This differentiation is easy when compared with the food habits followed by countries like Japan or America, which have a monocultural food diet. But, on analysing the root of the person, it can be understood that there too exists a micro identity for the person which can be affiliated with any one of the states and that to a certain particular area with a difference in the food culture. A person who visits India to explore its food habits would get confused by the large variety of food cultures present in the country.

Linguistic In-Betweenness: English as a Global Language

These wide distributions of multiple identities and cultures that are unique to the Indians were disturbed by the encroachment of the foreign culture and lifestyle that were imposed using direct and indirect methods. Lord Macaulay, during the East India Company’s economic and political invasion of India, commented on the need to form a class of interpreters from India who would stand between them and Indians with a high inclination towards English morals and intellect. His words read as,

To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population. (Macaulay and Young, 1935)

This refining of the vernacular characteristics of Indian culture and lifestyle continues to happen even decades after the independence of the country from the colonial-cum-imperialist powers of the West. The best example of such hegemony is the English language itself, which is widely used even while conversing in the native mother tongue. From the definitions, the resultant code-mixing is identified as using two languages such that a third, new code emerges, in which elements from the two languages are incorporated into a structurally definable pattern. (Maschler, 1998, p. 125)

Many words do not even have an equivalent vocabulary in the regional languages. For better understanding and ease of conversation, the common word used in English is substituted for the required position. Also, the trend of intermixing languages has been common among people, which increases the possibility of degrading the right use of regional languages. An example of such code-mixing and code-switching is Hinglish, which is a mix of languages such as Hindi and English used in India. In an interview conducted among 24 people, they were asked to converse in their regional language. During the conversation, they were not able to continue using monolingual Hindi – instead, they included 18.5% English in their speech (Chand, 2016). In day-to-day use of regional language, certain words, such as bike, switch, mobile, bus, phone, etc., do not have an equivalent vocabulary. It has now evolved as the lingua franca irrespective of the various classes of Indians, giving an equal influence to the change in culture too (Barnali, 2017, p. 121).

Even though the seven decades of independence have been conflicting in many ways, the English language, which is mainly a colonial contribution of the British to India, continues to play a vital role in producing the agenda of its cultural hegemony in India. This particular language, which has become more essential to the world with the rise of globalisation, though helps to reduce the linguistic gaps between cultures, also injects the indirect imperialistic characteristics of the colonisers. Amidst the arguments about the hegemonic nature of English, it is also considered an endangering factor for the indigenous languages. From the standpoint of multiculturalism and multilingualism, it aids in breaking down class and caste barriers and can also produce a stable sociolinguistic environment (Vaish, 2005, p. 203). Thus, the author views that though the language has linguistically subalternised and disenfranchised many, it acts as a linguistic capital due to the updates on the market forces of globalisation. Moreover, the reluctance of the youth to promote their mother tongue has made it easy for foreign languages to invade, especially English, to influence even culture and lifestyle and become prevalent (Prakesh, 2018, p. 20). The language, which was imposed for colonial and imperialist purposes, has now become an inextricable part of the culture, particularly in workplaces and middle-class settlements. It links cultures through the process of controlling the global market.

Betwixt and Between: Altered Eating Habits

To an extent, the food and cultural identity of a country are closely linked as they can define changes in the generalised notion of a community. Food has been a major factor in understanding cultures within and beyond the boundaries of the division devised for the easy categorisation of areas into states and even districts. The peculiar food culture of a specific area is also linked to the memories and identities of a larger community. The food culture has its connections with the colonial past of India, where Anglicists like Macaulay encouraged Indians to be ‘Englishmen’ whereas the Orientalists recalled the natives to retrieve the lost history and civilisation through the authentic ‘Indianness’ (Narayan, 1995, p. 67). The early Orientalists, such as H. T. Colebrook and William Jones, who conducted research on Sanskrit literature, history, and philosophy, were keen on advocating the notion of a golden age that was prosperous in authentic Indian culture. When colonisation brought glimpses of moving toward Western notions, the later effect of the thought of the global community popularised the spread of the Western taste along with the other cultures and intrusions of the European and American cultures. Following vegetarianism from a long tradition, new studies have informed that only about 40% of India’s total population, estimated at 1. 2 billion people, is now under such a category (Bankman, 2013). This is most prevalent among middle-class urban settlers. Due to the ease of preparation, rather than limiting themselves to functions and special occasions, 79% of Indians cook western food in their kitchens (Sarin, 2019). The interest behind such encroachments on food culture was supported by corporate interests to widen their business. The establishments of global brands such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and KFC have to be considered as part of this global extension. Food globalisation has been worldwide with the spread of these American food brands that allegedly began to eliminate local cuisines and floodway (Turner and Holton, 2015, p. 478).

Though India is already diverse in its traditional food culture with thousands of varieties, they all can be categorised under the macro expression of the innate identity. However, the recent popularity of fast food and tastes similar to those found on western plates demonstrates Indians’ keen interest in tastes beyond their borders. Colonial influences have initiated the assimilation of foreign tastes into Indian food culture. Indian food varieties like the bohri dabba gosht, salonee broccoli, nargisi kofta, shami kebab, dak bungalow chicken curry, culcutta bhetki, vindaloo, galouti mousse, jamun ceviche, samosa, khichdi, etc. are very few among the long list of adapted, integrated, and inspired tastes from European colonisers (Prabhu, 2019). The colonial transition in food culture that was followed by the people who tried to imitate the Englishness rejected their identity so as to become elevated into the British culture. The memsahibs of the nineteenth century had an interest in developing a British lifestyle in the sub-continent for which they tried to invite the foreign food culture into their diet by collectively refusing the intake of Indian dishes in their colonial homes. At the same time, the interesting part is that the Victorian homes of England were decorated with Indian objects, and they began to include curry in their diet (Chaudhuri, 1992). The term ‘curry’, for the British, does not only point to a specific dish variety but denotes the Indian diet as a whole. The quest to transit from the existing identity to another can be seen as an influence of the idea of inferiority and repression injected into third-world colonised countries like India. With these transitions and transformations in diet, the food culture of Indian society as a macro entity has been separated from the permanence of innate identity, from being exclusively Indian to the condition of practising a mixed food culture, not only from the West but also from other parts of the world.

Beyond the Threshold of Indian Lifestyle: Clothing and Fashion

The distinction between modern fashion concepts and traditional ones is more regarded as adaptations of Western culture versus the other, respectively. The incorporation of Westernised notions into Indian clothing culture is part of a tendency to become physically attached to the West’s cultural dominance, which continues through the process of still existing hegemony. The reminiscence of colonialism, mainly due to the intermixing of cultures, has created a tremendous change in the clothing culture of India. Within the micro and macro identities of the nation, there are several forms of clothing trends that are followed and updated from the traditional roots as part of both regional and national uniqueness. This mentality of blind adaptation to western fashion is evident from the use of clothes that do not match their climatic conditions. For example, in the Mediterranean climatic conditions of India, the use of blazers, coats, and thick woollen dresses does not match the needs of the person, but are worn to match the Western status and style. The most commonly used dress, i.e., jeans, among all genders does not fit the climatic conditions of the dry zones in India. But, irrespective of such health issues and comfort, they are widely used among the youth. The use of luxury brands, mostly the fashion followed in western countries, is said to symbolise modernity, economic, and social development. Though Indians prefer to wear modern dress as a symbol of being Westernised, they continue to wear ethnic outfits proudly. The consumer approach is more established with Western cultural values (Wong and Ahuvia, 1998), where the brands mainly influence the psychological attitude towards such altered identities and cultural aspects of the Indian customer. Therefore, the subjugation based on clothing continues to take place where globalisation effects in the country have at the same time brought western brands into India and have a substantial effect on the lifestyle of the people in the country (Handa and Khare, 2011, p. 1). The percentage statistics of the men’s western wear market in India account for approximately 93% of the market size. It was estimated at around 1,33,246 crore rupees in 2018 for the Indian western wear market for men and women together (Dhir and Bhatia, 2019). Increased urbanisation and a middle-class population, along with the intrusion of the influence of globalisation, have helped the western wear market prosper in India. These are more prevalent in societies that have the possibility to get into multiculturalism, with an inclination towards European and American cultures.

Discussion and Findings

To be liminal is a state of being in-between, betwixt and between, and living through the threshold. The above discussions conclude to the point of stating the presence of liminality in the people who, unlike the Indian diaspora, directly and indirectly, become neither a part of the Western nor the traditional Indian culture; but experience the attributes of both the cultures when living within the multicultural limits of the home country. The anthropological discussions on liminality as a theoretical concept are defined as neither here nor there; that usually is betwixt and between the positions often slipping through the network of classifications that normally locate states and positions in cultural space (Turner, 1969, p. 95). Though discovered and discussed mainly in the ritual contexts, the concept contained in the theory of liminality is more relevant in finding the relationship between the non-Indian diaspora, western culture and the traditional ‘Indianness’.

The three factors: language, food habits, and clothing fashion have made their transition from authentic nativity to a state of amalgamation with the influences from western cultures. It is not possible to conclude that the natives living within the land of India have completely disregarded the importance and practicality of these factors that immensely contributes to develop, sustain and inspire the traditional culture of India. Colonisation and globalisation have contributed much to manipulating and adulterating the authenticity of being in the traditional and cultural attributes of the country. The Indian diaspora, as they have to survive in a distant host country, is forced to adjust to the culture and lifestyle of that country. It is natural to get gradually incorporated into the new host conditions and way of life. The article discusses the unlike and unfortunate situation of the cultural diaspora, as followed by the natives situated in the homeland. The discussions about the three factors that influence the culture and lifestyle within the home country give rise to the notion that the people who live in the homeland, those who haven’t received the status of an Indian diaspora, are also affected by the influence of foreign cultures. Though Indian food, clothing, and music are emotional attachments and powerful reminders of home for immigrants (Lessinger, 1995, p. 32), the availability of the same, as well as the intense desire to lead a westernised lifestyle, leads residents of the home country to prefer the non-traditional. It happens as a continuation of colonial hegemony and globalisation effects. In such circumstances, with the help of the analysis of the conditions faced by the people, it can be understood that the non-Indian diaspora, specifically the citizens who reside in their homeland, is experiencing an in-between state, which is a betwixt and between situation. It is because the amalgamation or pure inclusion of Westernisation of these three factors has given rise to a situation where the people can neither be called completely followers of traditional culture nor strictly transited to the culture of the western world. They live in a liminal state in which they speak both their regional language/mother tongue and English, intake both diets, and dress in both ethnic and western clothing on appropriate occasions. Thus, both the western and the traditional cultures are followed by people residing in the country, claiming to be different from those of the Indian diaspora. This instability and irregularity of liminal existence point to cultural hybridity, third space, and interstitial passage between fixed identifications (Bhabha, 1994, p. 4). It allows the people involved “to elude the politics of polarity and emerge as the others of their selves” (p. 38).

Conclusion

Multiculturalism in India, consisting of many micro-identities giving rise to a single macro-identity, would be a perfect ground for foreign cultures to invade. Though multicultural, the micro identities that are spread in every geographical space of the country have to be considered as part of a single thali without the intervention of an external cultural hegemony. The discussions and findings of the research lead to the conclusion that even though native Indian citizens reside in their home country, they too possess equal alienation through the liminal existence of neither being able to completely attach to the traditional culture nor the western. In a way, by analysing the existing and increasing cultural instability among the native Indian citizens residing in the country, they can also be quoted under the same term – Indian diaspora, with certain exceptions in their geographical existence.

Salman Rushdie’s thoughts on the in-betweenness of being a part of the Indian diaspora provide the right state for people who are physically away from their homeland for various reasons of their own. Nevertheless, recent technological developments in communication, information exchange, transport, and travel have contributed to the advancement of transnational networks and even virtual communication. It has reduced the intensity of distance, alienation, and diasporic existence of people who migrate from their home country, thus reviving the local in a global context (Sahoo, 2006, p. 84). But his words can also be discussed from the perspective of the Indians residing in their home country, who, through various cultural aspects, are equal to the Indian diaspora. Rushdie mentions,

Not Western and not Indian, we are also partly of the west. Our identity is at once plural and partial. Sometimes, we feel that we straddle two cultures; at other times we fall between two stools. (Rushdie, 1991, p. 15)

This straddling effect between two cultures – the Indian and the Western – gives rise to the liminal existence of being and not being an absolute part of both cultures. Thus, the term ‘Imaginary Homelands’ used by Rushdie in his essay and book can be revised while looking at its contemporariness in thirty years of its use. With the more powerful tools of hegemony, the instabilities related to the cultures give rise to illusionary homelands as authentic and innate culture rooted in the pure traditional contexts of the nation has gradually become an illusion to the residents who are betwixt and between the two/many cultures.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

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Raisun Mathew is the author of Zephyr: The Breeze of Love (2021) and In-Between: Liminal Stories (2022), and editor of Literature, Media, and Society: Scholarly Perspectives (2021), The Post-Truth Era: Literature and Media (2021), and Identity: Quest and Questions (2022). He currently works as an Assistant Professor of English at Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Bangalore, and has submitted his doctoral thesis to Lovely Professional University, Punjab. His enthusiasm for creative and scholarly writing has contributed to publications in reputed journals, books, and periodicals. His research interests include contemporary literature, liminality, post-truth, gender, and religious studies.

Dr. Digvijay Pandya is an Associate Professor and Research Supervisor in the Department of English at Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. His area of specialization is Modern Poetry. He has more than 17 years of teaching experience in the field and has presented and published several papers in various international and national conferences, UGC-Care listed and Scopus indexed journals of high reputation.

Art and Culture in the Diplomatic Ceremonial as the Basis of International Relations

Aesthetic Studies/Cultural Studies/Media Studies/Performance Studies/V14N2

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Oksana Zakharova

¹Department of Art Management and Technology Events, National Academy of Management of Culture and Arts, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: o.zakharova@tanu.pro

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.16

First published: June 26, 2022 | Area: Performance Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

Currently, there is an increased interest in ceremonial culture. A ceremonial is a kind of cultural message from one social group of people to another. The basic idea of behaviour, the inner meaning of secular ceremonial is laid down in church rituals, and external forms of behaviour can be borrowed from the traditions of everyday secular life. Diplomacy as one of the spheres of applied politics is a very complex and responsible type of human activity, which has always had a pronounced ritual character. The conclusion of contracts and alliances took place according to a certain scenario plan, according to which the ceremonial action developed. During the preparation and holding of the ceremony, the exchange of diplomatic letters and embassies continued, solemn meetings were arranged for the honored guests, feasts, theatrical performances, games, and festivities were given in their honor. the purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive study of the communicative functions of diplomatic ceremonial in international communication based on the analysis and generalisation of new facts with the involvement of archival materials and other sources introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. In this study, art is considered for the first time from the point of view of the communicative factor of a diplomatic ceremony. A ceremonial is an event in the life of society that has a symbolic meaning. The norms of ceremonial reflect not only ideology but also the social psychology of society, without an adequate interpretation of which it is impossible to correctly understand the behavior of statesmen in specific situations related to their official status.

Keywords: diplomacy; culture; art; political elite; ideology; society.

Introduction

By the beginning of the First World War, the Russian Empire was a state whose opinion could not be ignored. Court ceremonials, which emphasised the strength and power of the ruling dynasty, were the political programmes of the government (Golubev & Nevezhin, 2016; Gould-Davies, 2003). After the February Revolution of 1917, the politicisation of leisure became the most important feature of public life. Not only rituals, but also performances, concerts, and cinema sessions turned into political demonstrations. The Revolution used new artistic forms, decorations of demonstrations, processions, and mass celebrations. The origins of this phenomenon are in the mass celebrations of the French Revolution (Martin & Piller, 2021). The ceremonial action itself is a synthesis of the arts – pictorial design of space, music, choreography, and costume.

Already in the first years of Soviet power, the symbols of power entered “into the struggle for power.” At diplomatic ceremonies, this struggle was in the nature of a confrontation between European protocol traditions and the newly created rules of Soviet diplomatic etiquette by the staff of the Protocol Department of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (ICID). The uniform at diplomatic receptions, concert programmes, the list of dishes served – everything had to meet the norms of Bolshevik ideology (Karyagin, 1994; How to Be Diplomatic, 2022). During the leadership of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs under V. Chicherin, Protocol Department under D.T. Florinsky is a collective of creative personalities who, without being afraid to experiment, developed norms of protocol practice that have been relevant for decades, compiled in 1923 by D.T. Florinsky’s “Brief Instruction on observing the rules of Etiquette adopted in bourgeois society” was taken as a basis for the creation in 1935 of a new manual on the protocol “Diplomatic Technique” (reprinted in 1938) (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 3. P. 101. D. 1. L. 20-25).

From the first years of its existence, the Protocol Department of the NKID (People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs) (until November 12, 1923 – the protocol division (protocol unit), took an active part in the preparation of foreign visits to the RSFSR (Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic), and since 1923 – to the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). In the 20-30s, Protocol Department employees were literally at the forefront of “diplomatic” relations, forming the foundations of Soviet protocol practice. Reports of D.T. Florinsky and comments on them by G.V. Chicherina are filled with interesting details that convey the atmosphere, and the spirit of the time with a lot of humor and self-irony. Elegant in form, they are very deep in content. Chicherin and Florinsky carefully analyse every situation that arises during visits, not to punish the guilty, but so that in the future such mistakes of the protocol service do not discredit the authorities, for many of whom the European diplomatic protocol is an external manifestation of bourgeois morality (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 8. P. 106. D. 6. L. 157-159).

In addition to the development of regulatory documents for the preparation and conduct of foreign visits, the Protocol Department staff actively participated in the organisation of diplomatic ceremonies with the participation of diplomats accredited in Moscow and their family members. The peculiarity of the diplomatic corps’ stay in Moscow was that the embassy staff were in an unusual socio-cultural environment, the value system which was formed by the norms of Bolshevik ideology. Using the methods of agitation and propaganda, the authorities sought to form a negative attitude among citizens towards modern European culture, representatives of which were, among others, employees of diplomatic agencies.

Diplomatic life and ceremonial culture after the formation of the USSR

From 1923 to 1929, the diplomatic corps in Moscow was distinguished by the cohesion of its members and at the same time isolation from Russian reality. But at the same time, from the point of view of the development of diplomatic ceremonial culture, the life of the diplomatic corps was very busy. Receptions at embassies were arranged almost daily and were built according to a certain scenario: during lunch – conversations about politics and art, then a dance or concert program. Many accredited diplomats in Moscow were engaged in collecting objects. So, the Ambassador of France, one of the best French journalists J. Erbet acquired a collection of objects from Ural malachite. The head of the German Embassy, Count Brakdorf-Rantzau, collected antique bronze. Norwegian diplomat Dr. Urbi collected icons. Just like the Latvian Ambassador K. Ozols (2026), he believed that a modern diplomat should spend two years in Moscow to consider himself a professional. The embassies of the Baltic states were practically under siege in Moscow, as states that the USSR wanted to seize into its sphere of influence. The aggressive policy of the authorities has led to the fact that the diplomatic corps has become even more united. Receptions were held quite often at the Latvian Embassy, they were attended not only by well-known journalists, but also by representatives of the Soviet elite (Ozols, 2016). The Lithuanian Embassy occupied a special position in Moscow, largely due to the personality of the envoy Jurgis Baltrushaitis – poet, translator of Byron, Ibsen, d Annunzio, Hamsun, Wilde, Strindberg. Of the Soviet diplomats, who also needed to be included in the diplomatic corps, the most significant was G.V. Chicherin, who was a brilliant pianist, a subtle connoisseur of musical culture.

Despite an active diplomatic life, the Italian writer C. Malaparte (2018) calls the Soviet capital a provincial city in which the creativity of European writers was preferred to the creativity of European fashion designers. The Soviet nobility tried to “try on” the lifestyle of the pre-revolutionary elite of Russian society, but copying the form, it did not care about the content, about its moral and spiritual origins. The traditions of pre-revolutionary secular life continued to develop at receptions at embassies, to which representatives of the Soviet creative intelligentsia were invited. Stalin did not take part in the events of the diplomatic corps, but at the same time the entire diplomatic corps “with one voice” praised the lifestyle of the leader, whom he compared to Bonaparte after 18 Brumaire (November 9), 1799, when the Directory was dispersed in France, and the government headed by Napoleon Bonaparte came to power. Stalin was a dictator, the communist nobility was against him, in the late 20s its representatives tried to imitate Paris, London, Berlin or New York manners (Malaparte, 2018). Notably, the embassies of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were the peculiar centers of the diplomatic life of the capital of the USSR. In the 20s, the Italian Embassy played a leading role in the life of the diplomatic corps, forming programs of diplomatic receptions, in which, for example, dancing was replaced by playing bridge.

Sports, in particular tennis, united members of the diplomatic corps, but did not contribute to their rapprochement with Soviet colleagues, who for the most part came from a working-peasant environment, were neither practically nor psychologically ready to communicate with foreign diplomats. This problem was discussed in the language of art at one of the most striking events of Soviet diplomatic life in the early 30s – the ball at the German mission (1931), at which, during a theatrical performance, the Soviet protocol was criticized for being late, not knowing foreign languages, etc. (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 11. P. 109. D. 2. L. 73). During this period, ballroom ceremonial ceased to be a component of the state ceremonial culture, but it still remained an important component of European life. In diplomatic Moscow, balls were given not by official Soviet officials, but by members of the diplomatic corps.

It was the ballroom ceremonial, combining various types of arts, that allowed achieving the greatest emotional impact on those present, who, at the same time, were active participants in the ceremonial, owning a whole complex of relevant class norms. Of all the ceremonials, the ball had the utopian function to the greatest extent. Music, choreography, architectural decoration created an ideal environment from the point of view of artistic harmony. In the 30s, the staff of the German Embassy were the leaders of secular life, but at the same time, German diplomats did not seek to isolate the embassy and the entire diplomatic corps from the NKID staff, but were looking for ways to get closer to them. In particular, discussing protocol issues, for example, the appearance of a diplomat at official receptions.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, the music of R. Strauss and all modern German composers was banned in the USSR. Excluded were the repertoire of Wagner’s operas, which were performed on the stage of the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theater – in the 1926-1927 season – “Meistersingers”, in the 1932-1933 season – “Lohengrin” (Stefanovich, 1960). The Soviet-German agreements signed in Moscow in 1939 had a noticeable impact not only on the political, but also on the cultural development of Soviet society. In 1939, during negotiations with the German Foreign Minister in Moscow, the foundations of a new world order were laid and the map of Europe was “reshaped” considering the interests of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

At the end of 1939, the pro-German musical policy began and the reason for this phenomenon was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But the changes in the foreign policy of the USSR were said in the language of art a few months before the meeting in Moscow, namely on May 5, 1939. On this day, at a concert for the participants of the military May Day parade in Moscow, the “Chorus of Sailors” by R. Wagner was performed in the 3rd department. Symphony orchestras began to perform R. Strauss (Nevezhin, 2011). The Protocol is not only an instrument, but also a kind of indicator of the priorities of the state’s foreign policy, which was especially clearly manifested in the relations of the Soviet leadership with German representatives in Moscow and during the visit of I. von Ribbentrop. The totality of protocol norms as a whole demonstrated the priorities of the Kremlin leaders in the field of international relations. One of the clearest confirmations of the Kremlin’s loyalty to the chosen course aimed at establishing friendly relations with Germany was the decision to stage R. Wagner’s opera “Valkyrie” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater by the outstanding Soviet film director S. M. Eisenstein, who openly expressed his anti-Nazi views (Golubev & Nevezhin, 2016). On November 21, the premiere of the opera, which was a kind of “greeting” of a delegation that arrived from Berlin after Molotov’s talks with Hitler and Ribbentrop.

During the Soviet period, all the details of state ceremonies were carefully developed, each of which is an illustration of the ethical norms accepted in society. As in the pre-revolutionary period, great importance was attached to the gesture, musical accompaniment, and the language of the costume. Methods of appearance design are important signals, personality signs. Clothes are a business card. The attitude towards a diplomat is related to the perception of the country he represents. In choosing a suit, the personal preferences of a diplomatic employee give way to political expediency. The “expulsion” of the tailcoat, and even earlier the top hat, from Soviet protocol practice was regarded as a victory in the struggle against bourgeois values. Modern European dances were also considered carriers of ethical norms alien to the Soviet citizen. Despite the prohibitions of the authorities, the daily, unofficial life of Soviet people was filled with foxtrot, tango, waltz, which literally “punched” their way into dance halls at different periods of history. Each of them was accused of promoting sexual promiscuity, called obscene and vulgar. And here it is very important to distinguish between the original choreography and the subsequent “processed” by classical choreographers, teachers of ballroom dancing. The ennobled returned dancing to the ballroom floor and became its kings. Each dance in different periods of history had its own semantic meaning, its own intonation at the ball, being not only an organizational link, but also a kind of expression of the basic ideas of banal ceremonial. Diplomatic privileges and immunities extended not only to diplomats, but also to the forms of their leisure, in particular, to the programs of dance evenings. Thus, the foxtrot, banned in the USSR, is performed in embassies not only by foreign diplomats, but also by the head of the protocol department of the NKID, D.T. Florinsky. The 20s were a time of searching for ways to reconcile traditional European protocol norms with the Bolshevik ideology of the Soviet state.

With the expansion of international contacts, the problem of the exchange of commemorative gifts both in the foreign missions of the USSR and in Moscow itself became more acute and urgent. Especially acute was the issue of the relationship between the authorities and the keepers of the cultural heritage of the USSR – museum workers (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 8. P. 106. D. 10. L. 223, 223 rev). It should be noted that if the interior items that were not returned to the museum storages remained in the USSR, then the works of painting, sculpture, decorative and applied art became the cultural heritage of other states. The canvases of B.M. Kustodiev “The Beauty” (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 8. P. 105. D.1. L. 128, 129), S.Yu. Zhukovsky “Forest in early spring” (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 21. P. 115. D. 4. L. 19), V.I. Zarubin “Landscape with three old ladies” (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 21. P. 115. D. 4. L. 23), K.F. Yuon “Parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941” (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 31. P. 155. D. 20. L. 48), A.I. Laktionov “Girl for embroidery”, P.P. Konchalovsky “Lilac” (AVPRF. F. 57. Op. 41. P. 198. D. 36. L. 168), I.E. Grabar “Frost, the last rays” were used as diplomatic gifts (AVPRF. F. 57. Op. 41. P. 198. D. 36. L. 169).

Foreign guests were generously gifted with fur products, some of which can rightfully be attributed to works of art. So, in 1943, Molotov’s wife gave the wife and daughter of the representative of the President of the United States (United States of America) Davis’s outfits were made of fox and ermine, and in 1946 a sable fur coat was presented to the Princess of Iran A. Pahlavi personally from I.V. Stalin (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 26. P. 127. D. 7. L. 18). The range of Kremlin gifts is very diverse. If in 1944 U. Churchill received as an official gift 10 kg of caviar, 15 liters of vodka and 40 packs of cigarettes, then his wife in 1945 – a diamond of 5.58 carats (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 24. P. 120. D. 7. L. 33; AVPRF. F. 06. Op. 7. P. 22. D. 246. L. 62).”The Prime Minister’s grocery set is rather evidence of special friendly relations, since in 1944 Churchill was still “his boyfriend”, and you can also give vodka to “your own”. In turn, M.A. Churchill earned a diamond for organising Soviet aid during the war. In this regard, the question involuntarily arises – for what merits the wives and daughters of Soviet leaders received very valuable gifts from foreign guests (platinum watches with diamonds of Stalin’s daughter from I.B. Tito, etc.) (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 26. P. 127. D. 8. L. 32).

The visit of K. Churchill was one of the first independent visits of the wife of a state leader to the USSR. The “women’s visit” forced the staff of the Protocol Department to depart from the “men’s code” of the Soviet protocol, in which the presence of women at official receptions was not welcome. The situation began to change in March 1945 during the visit of Czechoslovak President Benes and his wife to Moscow: members of the delegation were invited to dinner with Stalin (March 28) together with their wives (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 25. P. 123. D. 8. L. 53.). Ulanova, Maksakova, Kozlovsky, Mikhailov and others performed at the concert in the Central House of the Red Army (CDKA) [25]. The President’s wife visited the Moscow Art Theater (Moscow Art Academic Theater named after M. Gorky) (the play “Russian People”) and the ballet school at the Bolshoi Theater.

It should be noted that in the programs of official foreign visits there is practically no information about the visits of guests to academic drama theaters in Moscow and other cities of the Soviet Union. The reason for this phenomenon probably lies not only in the difficulty of translation – professionals possess a number of artistic techniques that allow not only to understand the meaning of what is happening on stage, but also to feel the atmosphere itself, the mood of the performance. Probably one of the reasons is the repertory policy of theaters, which could not refuse to stage plays by foreign and pre-revolutionary domestic playwrights. But even in the traditional staging of classical works, censorship could detect an encroachment on the foundations of communist morality, at the same time, visiting the Bolshoi Theater was an important component of the programs of foreign visits to the USSR. Great music and choreography, and outstanding performers, greatly contributed to the fact that the ballet “Swan Lake” became a kind of element of Soviet classical diplomacy (Karyagin, 1994).

After the “Basic provisions of Protocol practice in the USSR” approved in 1976 by the Central Committee of the CPSU (Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), official visits to the theater were excluded from the programs of foreign visits. (AVPRF. F. 057. Op. 60. P. 260. D. 1. L. 40, 41, 43, 44). The official version is saving public funds. But in our opinion, the main reason is the confidence of the leaders of the state that their political course does not need the support of art. Moreover, in the 70s and early 80s, representatives of the creative intelligentsia, including soloists of academic opera and ballet theaters, were either expelled from the country – Vishnevskaya and V. Rostropovich – or preferred to work in foreign collectives in the Bolshoi Theater or the Kirov Theater (Mariinsky Theater) – Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alexander Godunov. But the specific features of the Kremlin leaders’ “understanding” of the significance of works of art in the political life of society in no way begs for their value.

The art of ballet forced the world community to see the USSR as a country in which the traditions of classical art continue to develop, and, consequently, human values are not alien to the Soviet state. Thus, it is possible to build partnerships with the Soviet Union, which are based on mutually beneficial cooperation. At Kremlin receptions, there was a representation of power, the process of interaction between the party leadership and the invited audience, which allowed communicating (including using the language of art) to the broad masses the main ideas of power. Individuals with a high social status, an active and trustworthy part of society, were invited to the Kremlin.

Features of the development of the cultural repertoire in Soviet Moscow

In states with a pronounced vertical of power, state policy in the field of culture largely depends on the tastes of the leaders of the state. At the same time, not only are the people deprived of the right to choose, but also the ruling elite, which for the most part was deeply mistaken about their real capabilities. The slightest violation of the designated rules of the game could lead to moral and physical destruction. The proof of the above is the Soviet musical doctrine of the 30s-50s of the twentieth century during the active process of the totalization of art in the USSR.

A comparative analysis of the programmes of government concerts in Moscow and the repertoire policy of Ukrainian theaters showed that they were united not by what was performed, but rather by what was forbidden to perform. So, in the repertoire of theaters, including concert programmes, there are no works of Hindemith, Stravinsky, Bartok, Kozelli, Schoenberg, Mesian, Penderetsky, Berg, Krshenek, Schreker and Kurt Weil. They were excluded from concert programs and theater posters after Zhdanov’s articles against Shostakovich’s music – “Confusion instead of Music” (about opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk district”) and “Ballet Falsehood” (about the ballet “Light Stream”), published in January and February 1936 in the newspaper “Pravda” point to this.

In totalitarian states, the government deprives the people of the right to choose. The development of entire directions in the field of art depends on the leader’s predilection. Before the war, Stalin liked the music of I. Dzerzhinsky. As a result, the composer’s operas were staged on the stage of leading musical theaters: “Raised Virgin Land” – in Kiev (season 1937-38); in Odessa (1937), in Dnepropetrovsk (1937); “Quiet Don” – in Kiev (season 1936 – 1937), in Lviv (1940). The works of D. Shostakovich, including the opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk district”, did not make a proper impression on the leader. So, it is not surprising that they were not on the theater posters of opera houses and in the programs of government concerts. At the same time, the 7th Symphony (Leningrad) was performed on February 21, 1943 on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences in London during the theatrical performance “Salute to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Red Army”, which is a unique event in the history of Soviet-British cultural ties (RAHE/1/1944/16).

The press noted the “grandiose” design of the stage space, which represented a stylized view of the Russian city. Each of the two thousand participants, attracted from various services, factories, civil defense institutions, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, numerous Guards orchestras, outstanding artists, was an important component of the stage action, which The Times called a “triumph” (The Times, 2022). Against the background of the aggravation of allied relations caused largely by the Katyn tragedy, as well as the problem of opening a second front in Europe, a concert dedicated to the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Red Army on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall on February 23, 1944 acquires special political significance.

A kind of culmination of the concert, composed of works by outstanding composers of the English musical Renaissance, led by Edward Elgar, was the work of G.F. Handel “Hallelujan Ghorus Aroma Messiah” performed by the Royal Choral Society and the London Symphony Orchestra (The Times, 2022). Despite the fact that the concert was dedicated to the Red Army, it became an important factor in British cultural diplomacy. In London, the music of D. Shostakovich and S. Prokofiev was played, but we could not find them in the programmes of government Kremlin concerts either during the war or in the post-war periods.

In totalitarian states, the subjective factor prevails over national interests, priorities in domestic and foreign policy. Stalin loved opera. Excerpts from opera performances by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Rossini, Gounod were performed at almost every government concert. In choreography, he preferred characteristic and national dances to classical dance. The leader did not like instrumental music, especially symphonic and chamber music. We were unable to find fragments of symphonic works by Russian and Western European composers in the programs of government concerts, as well as long-lasting compositions for solo instruments – sonatas, concerts.

Stalin considered vocal music to be the highest kind of music. These opinions of the leader were reflected in the musical Soviet policy and were theoretically justified in the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1948. In the field of folk music, he preferred Ukrainian and Russian folk songs. The Kremlin leaders had a special dislike for vocal and instrumental modernist music. Thus, Stalin’s tastes formed the basis of strict control in the field of musical creativity. The musical doctrine of the Soviet government was based on the musical tastes of the leader. This doctrine wore the mask of “socialist realism in music.” But it was the “mask” under which the music that gave Stalin pleasure, the works that acted on the leader “like a dentist’s drill or a musical slaughterhouse” (as Zhdanov put it), were excluded from the repertoire. In February 1948, the Moscow central newspapers published a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) (Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks) about the opera “The Great Friendship” by Vano Muradelli, in addition to the author, D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev, A. Khachaturian, B. Lyatoshinsky, V. Shebalin, N. Myaskovsky.

Lviv Theater excluded the opera V. Muradelli and other “dubious” performances in the light of the new party decrees. In Lviv, Prokofiev and Khachaturian were “rehabilitated” only in 1965, when the ballets “Cinderella” and “Spartak” were staged on the stage of the theater. In 1985, S. Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” was presented to the audience. It is a mistake to say that only modern music was subject to the ban. What the leader did not like and did not understand, for example, the Viennese operetta, was not performed. Ballet “The Big Waltz” to the music of I. Strauss was stopped in Lviv in 1957, and the operettas “The Gypsy Baron” and “The Bat” – in 1960 and 1982, respectively. In the 40s, paradoxically, the cultural programmes of the Allies contributed more to the creation of a positive image of the USSR – a theatrical performance (1943) and a concert (1944) at the Royal Albert Hall – than the programmes of government concerts in the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theater. A performance glorifying the Red Army was created in the Albert Hall, and in Moscow in the same year a reception was held at the Spiridonovka, which was more famous for abundant treats, rather than a concert programme. The “thaw” that came in the mid-50s forced Soviet leaders to reconsider the style and methods of international activity.

The number of diplomatic missions accredited in Moscow increased from 1918 to 1945 from 2 to 32. In 1960, the USSR already had diplomatic relations with 69 states, 53 foreign diplomatic missions were accredited in Moscow. Soviet leaders practically did not attend receptions at embassies, diplomatic staff, military personnel, cultural figures were sent there – all according to the approved list. In the early-mid-50s, the Soviet government began to take measures aimed at establishing active contacts with the diplomatic corps, providing it with information about new achievements, processes in the development of the economy, science, culture, etc. The protocol service organized regular screenings of new works of cinematography and theater, trips around the country, meetings with representatives of the creative intelligentsia.

In 1953-1954, conditioned upon the intensification of the USSR’s foreign policy, more international meetings, congresses, festivals, exhibitions, etc. began to be held. In the “activation” of work with the diplomatic corps, the main role was assigned to cultural programs. In the Bolshoi Theater, in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, separate seats were assigned to diplomats. In the representative mansion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Since January 1963, the USSR has organised weekly screenings of feature films, monthly author’s evenings of famous cultural figures. The demands to take measures to “activate” work with the diplomatic corps were repeated in the decisions of the Board in the 70s and 80s.

In 1970, the British Council (a semi-governmental organization operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the field of cultural, scientific and other humanitarian exchanges) promoted the organisation of an exhibition of ancient Chinese drawings in London. In exchange, Beijing received the London Symphony Orchestra. In diplomacy, this cooperation has been called “symphonic ping-pong”. “Ping Pong diplomacy” became a household name after the Chinese-American table tennis match, which marked the beginning of active relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (People’s Republic of China).

Conclusion

In the early years of Soviet power, representatives of the workers’ and peasants’ government tried to ignore the norms of diplomatic protocol and etiquette, arguing that they were based on bourgeois morality alien to the young Soviet Republic. But already in the early 20s it became obvious that it is impossible to build partnerships with foreign countries without observing generally accepted European norms, traditions and conventions in international communication.

In the post-war years, the isolation of part of the diplomatic corps continued on an ideological basis. Such a situation could not but influence the behaviour of the members of the diplomatic corps in Moscow, in which there was, along with the traditional, a kind of diplomatic counterculture, that is, the deliberate disregard by the participants of international communication of the accepted protocol norms, and the rules of respect and politeness in international communication. Behind the seemingly “dry” language of the protocol are specific individuals with their habits and characters. In the system of international relations, art as a communicative factor not only poses problems, but also contributes to their resolution.

The study identified that art is a communicative factor not only in classical, but also in public diplomacy. In this regard, the profession of a diplomat implies communication both with persons provided for by the protocol service, and with scientists, writers, musicians, artists. Otherwise, diplomacy will remain an archaic institution that ignores public opinion, denies the possibilities of public diplomacy, and, consequently, the role of “soft power” in world politics, which defends the national interests of the state peacefully, using, among other things, the language of art in state ceremonies.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

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Narrating “India”: Liminal Narratives of Northeast and Assertion of Identity

Assamese Literature/North East Literature & Culture/Partition Studies/V14N2

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Liji Varghese
Assistant Professor of English, All Saints’ College, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-5373-5911. Email: liji.eng@allsaintscollege.ac.in

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022. Pages 1-10. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne27

First published: June 25, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

The canonical notion of the Nation has always been a highly problematic and significant motif in Indian English literature. A close perusal reveals the staggering conflicts that arise as the counter-narratives raise pertinent questions that dispute the validity of the official discourse. One may argue that it is too simplistic to think of a singular concept of ‘India’ that can appease the demands of pluralistic narratives. Rather, one should envisage ‘Indias’ that open itself to fluid perspectives and accommodate polyphonic narratives. It is at such a juncture that writings from the Northeast India play a decisive role as they effectively re-mould the concepts of identity and authenticity in narrating the Indian experience. When writers like Siddhartha Deb, Anjum Hasan, and Anungla Zoe Longkumer examine the nuances of a liminal discourse that had hitherto been excluded from the nationalist canon, they become potent narratives that hint at the palimpsestic layers of a pluralistic discourse. The present paper tries to analyse works like The Point of Return (2003), Lunatic in My Head (2007) and The Many that I am (2019) as narratives that become persuasive layers of a palimpsestic notion of nation.

Key words: Liminal narratives, fluidity, palimpsestic India, identity and authenticity, Self/Other dichotomy

Narrating "India": Liminal Narratives of Northeast and Assertion of Identity

Introduction: Narrating the Nation

The nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries witnessed the nationalist movement in India making its presence felt in the myriad aspects of quotidian life. The growth of nationalist literature is concomitant with the idea of creating a nationalist discourse that expedited the creation of an “imagined community” (Anderson, 1986) which naturally served its purpose in disposing of the colonial yoke. Sunil Khilnani notes how the creation of the political entity called modern India has been fashioned out of diverse ideas. According to him, “the possibility that India could be united into a single political community was the wager of India’s modern, educated, urban elite, whose intellectual horizons were extended by modern ideas and whose sphere of action was expanded by modern agencies.” (2012, p.5). However, as the literary nation thus narrated began its sojourn after independence, the earlier paradigms that served to define it had to be constantly re-written to accommodate nascent narratives that had remained silenced in an earlier era. The monolith of ‘India’ has been replaced by plural narratives that celebrate the protean nature of ‘Indias’.

“In emphasising the fluidity of boundaries, … texts have moved a long way from the totalizing narratives of territorial nationalism. The idealism and absolute dichotomies of the early twentieth century cannot sustain a writer who lives in a more ambiguous and tentative world.” (Mukherjee, 1992, p.148)

The task of narrating the new ‘Indias’ has been unreservedly taken up by modern Indian English writers like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Manu Joseph and so on who believe that the personal is the political. In the decades following Indian independence, the sacrosanct ideal of the Indian nation and its official narratives were closely emulated in literature as well. Though there were voices of dissent, they were few and far in between. The dawn of the new century brought forth a class of writers who deliberately foregrounded liminal narratives and their untold perspectives. Narrating the nation is a complex task and narrating the liminal discourses couched within the nationalist narrative is even more intricate. Bhabha acknowledges the complexity of this process when he comments on how it evolves into a “… liminal form of social representation, a space that is internally marked by cultural difference and the heterogeneous histories of contending peoples, antagonistic authorities and tense cultural locations.” (Bhabha, 1990, p.299).

If one is to observe the narration of a nation like India, there is a surprisingly diverse variety of indigenous cultures jostling with each other for space and voice. “This discordant material was not the stuff of which nation-states are made; it suggested no common identity or basis of unity that could be reconciled within a modern state.” (Khilnani, 2012, p.152). The very notion of a fixed national identity becomes extremely cliched as it trivialises the pertinent signifiers of identity like sexuality or ethnicity or social class that each individual embodies. Huddart opines that “the power of a national narrative seems entirely confident of its consistency and coherence, but is all the while undermined by its inability to really fix the identity of the people, which would be to limit their identity to a single overpowering nationality.” (2007, p. 111)

The post-independence era witnessed a number of counter-narratives that sought to (re)define the ideas of identity and authenticity through potent discourses that sought radical revisions of the official narrative. The official narrative of nationalism clashes violently with the counter-narratives as they both follow different ideological tangents. The discourse of nationalism is one that is “predicated on exclusion” (Munasinghe, 2005, p.155), while liminal narratives stress on the ‘otherness’ that had been displaced from the mainstream. “Counter-narratives of the nation that continually evoke and erase its totalizing boundaries – both actual and conceptual – disturb those ideological manoeuvres through which ‘imagined communities’ are given essentialist identities” (Bhabha, 1990, p.300).

It is in such a context that literature of Northeast India emerges as powerful counter-narratives that displace complacent notions of mainland India from asserting their perceived supremacy over the margins. The Northeast states had nursed an uneasy relationship with the Hindi heartland of India and had often been deliberately erased from what is touted as mainstream Indian culture. The literature from the Northeast area has made a powerful comeback in the recent decades and proudly stays away from the themes that preoccupy the official canon. While it is too simplistic to club together with the individual literary narratives of the various states under the rubric of Northeast literature, the same has been done by many critics as there are overarching themes and motifs that acknowledge a shared past. The precolonial oral narratives of the various tribes celebrated the unique and dynamic nature of the region. The Ahom dynasty in Assam nurtured a rich literary tradition and the invaluable Meitei scripts of precolonial Manipur reveal a heritage that is impressively expansive in its scope and design. The colonial need to homogenise the Northeast was an extremely complex process that shaped the later literary traditions of the region, with regard to its linguistic, cultural and political tangent. The postcolonial narratives of the region were often in English that passionately asserted the historic and social individuality of the Northeast. Commenting on the evocative nature of Northeast literature, Vivek Menezes comments that the reader is drawn “into an unknown world: tribal and globalised at the same time, not-quite India and perfectly content to remain that way” (Menezes, 2020). The Northeast literature is now characterised by poignant resonances of cultures that remain unique in the polyphonic narratives of modern India. The present paper tries to analyse how the crucial signifiers of identity and the Self/Other dichotomy manifest in layering the narratives of a palimpsestic nation by an intense perusal of works like The Point of Return (2003), Lunatic in My Head (2007) and The Many that I am (2019).

Gendered Identity and the dichotomy of Self/Other in Moulding Counter-narratives

In her Introduction to the anthology, The Many That I Am, Anungla Zoe Longkumer states emphatically, without any preamble, that the book is an attempt to narrate the Naga women’s account of history or specifically ‘herstory’. She says, “Instead of ‘others’ depicting a somewhat superficial image of the Nagas, it is Naga writers who are now espousing the need for honest probity into our inner selves in order to correct our past mistakes by creating a livable present” (Longkumer 2019, p.6). The Naga identity is here proudly proclaimed and the other narratives are dismissed as being “superficial”; narratives that masquerade as authentic but which lack credulity before the Naga Self. Chitra Ahanthem describes the book as “the socio-cultural history of Nagaland through its many women” (Ahanthem, 2019). One can even argue that the book and its creation constitute the emergence of a counter-narrative that revisits notions of Naga history and identity from a feminine perspective.

Identity is a crucial signifier in the creation of the Self and the process of asserting the authenticity of one’s identity is often quite complex. “Rather than being primordial, identity is constructed, and its construction is strongly influenced by politico-historical and sociocultural conditions…. Depending on the context, an individual invokes different identities at different times” (Jayaram, 2012, p.56). One constantly seeks validation from other sources to assert a particular identity.

“Even more importantly, the self is projected in the first place in order to answer the glance of the other. Consequently, identity is not merely differentiated from alterity, the other, by singling itself out from a multiplicity of others; it is itself constituted in a dialectic process that interacts with the other” (Fludernik, 2007, p.261).

The Naga women writers have come forward to posit an identity that had earlier been silenced by master narratives of both the nation and patriarchy. They have initiated the “dialectic process” by a bold assertion that refuses to capitulate before the glance of the Other.

The validation of the Self doesn’t necessarily involve a blind negation of the Other; instead, it involves a keen awareness that accepts, disputes and re-creates the imposed sense of identity. In the essay, “Outbooks”, Narola Changkija narrates with great lucidity the clash of identities in her young Naga self when she develops awareness of the Others around her. “We lived in a tribal world, a Scheduled Tribes world, where our internal realities clashed with our external state of being. We were the descendants of ancient head-hunters, but we were dependent on the generous funds of a Central Indian government. We were not like the plains people, the tsumars” (Longkumer, 2019, p.128). She is aware of their ‘otherness’ and questions their presence in the world of the Nagas. It is this awareness that moulds her own sense of self as opposed to a militant stance of rejection or a supplicant attitude of mimicking.

The liminal narrative created by the Naga women becomes even more pertinent as it links gender with the idea of Nation/State/Tribe. Traditionally, women’s role in nationalist discourse has been subjected to specific paradigms that furthered the stereotypical depiction of women as custodians of culture. “The new patriarchy advocated by nationalism conferred upon women the honour of a new social responsibility, and by associating the task of ‘female emancipation’ with the historical goal of sovereign nationhood, bound them to a new, and yet entirely legitimate, subordination” (Chatterjee, 1986, p.248). This trope in nationalist discourse is cleverly subverted in Vishu Rita Krocha’s story, “Cut Off” when Tasu the patriarch acknowledges that the stories of history and myth change for the better when women are involved. The traditional role of women as passive participants in men’s militant history is disputed when women establish peace in a situation that could have wiped out many lives. In a thorough subversion of gendered roles, the man is grateful that women intervened (Longkumer, 2019, p.35). “This may mean that women are simultaneously both less militaristic and less nationalistic because militarism is often seen as an integral facet of a national project” (Walby, 1996, p.252). War and violence are negated as constructs belonging to an outdated discourse and women chart the borders of a new discourse that looks at other alternatives as opposed to the earlier way of life.

Othering the Self: Notion of Authenticity in Liminal Narratives

The metanarrative of the nation often imposes a set of signifiers that define the parameters of normalcy. “A shared bedrock of pre-determined differentials that include religion, language, ethnicity and/or caste, work in conjunction with the existing cultural systems to infiltrate the collective consciousness and become ‘normalised’” (Silva, 2004, p.15). The liminal narratives of a geographic region like the Northeast pose a threat to the metanarrative as it celebrates its ‘otherness’ and foregrounds its difference as its identity. The tension that arises when liminal narratives clash with the metanarrative often gathers its momentum from the notion of authenticity. How does one define authenticity and who is qualified to be the authentic voice of the metanarrative? Siddhartha Deb and Anjum Hasan play with the concept of authenticity when they depict how the process of othering becomes the crux for counter-narratives that deconstruct the notions of Self/ Other.

In narratives from the Hindi heartland, especially visual narratives that cater to the edicts of ‘popular (Bollywood) culture’, people from the Northeast and the Southern parts of India are caricatured, thus emphasising their ‘otherness’. Analysing the situation, Nityananda Kalita points out that this “national-centric discourse about the Northeast shaped mostly by former bureaucrats and retired army, police and intelligence officers is heavily pro-state and insensitive to the vulnerabilities of the common man and dismissive of the frequent transgressions of rights of its own citizens by the state” (Kalita, 2011, p. 1358). The Point of Return and The Lunatic in my Head eschew simplistic narratives of unity found in nationalistic discourse and address the conflict-ridden narrative of the Northeast from the perspectives of both the indigenous people and the Bengalis. The novels also subvert the Self/ Other dichotomy when the narrative is focalised¹ from the perspectives of non-indigenous people in Northeast who view it as home. They become the Other in the eyes of the natives who regard them as outsiders. They do not belong to the Northeast and therefore they are the Other, and the illusion of being an Indian who has chosen to reside in another part of India becomes one that mocks its own pretentious ideological framework. In The Point of Return, Dr. Dam and Babu are perplexed and saddened by the stark realisation of their otherness. They are termed as useless Bengalis coming over the border (Deb, p.22). And in a very telling sentence, Deb captures the predicament of the Other, who had tried to forge a new sense of Self. “No use for Bengalis, always coming over the border.” They said nothing, looking away at the Indian flag fluttering in front of the guard-house” (Deb, p.22). The Indian flag is a symbol of the nationalist discourse that harbours ideals of unity among diversity and the fragility of such ideals is exposed when Bengalis are termed as outsiders by the indigenous Hill people. The colonial era’s attempt to homogenise the Northeast with the ‘Indian mainland’ witnessed cultural and linguistic impositions on the natives. The Britishers’ attempt to standardise the vernaculars by imposing Bengali language was met with stiff opposition. The subsequent influx of Bengalis from East Pakistan during Partition and later during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war made the situation in Northeast (especially, the state of Assam) even more volatile. The indigenous people viewed the migrants with suspicion and hostility and this can be viewed as a continuum of their resistance to the erstwhile narratives of colonial hegemony. The conflict is rooted in the natives’ fear of “losing cultural identity and political power and not receiving its share of the region’s resources” (Kalita, 2011, p.1358). Deb’s portrayal of the tension between the natives and the ‘Bengalis’ like Dr. Dam and Babu emphasises this aspect. Such a narrative strategy can also be viewed as a parody of the official mainstream discourse where the roles of the Self and Other are subverted.

Dr. Dam muses about how people are deeply divided on account of their ethnicity.

“There had been a time when ethnic differences had been unimportant, and when he thought about it, even now most of his tribal colleagues were remarkably unprejudiced. If anything, it was his fellow Bengalis and other nontribal groups who were insular, with a vague sense of superiority over the tribal officers (Deb, p.74).

As the novel is narrated in a reverse chronological manner, we understand that Dr. Dam makes this observation at an earlier point in time and that the passage of years has eroded the fabric of unity that the metanarrative of the nation imposed on the individual states. The metanarrative of the Indian nation carries the vestiges of the colonial mission of homogenisation and this makes it even more problematic. The insidious ways in which the colonial power controlled the Northeast and the ensuing linguistic, cultural and racial conflicts are seldom recorded in the official discourse of the nationalist struggle. The renowned political scientist, Sanjib Baruah comments on how the colonial imposition of arbitrary political borders of the Northeast catered to the Britishers’ economic and administrative interests. He notes that such policies are carried forward by the Indian nation and argues that the term Northeast embodies the “history of a series of ad hoc decisions made by national security-minded managers of the postcolonial Indian state” (qtd. in Roychowdhury 2021). The conflict between the indigenous people and the Bengalis can be traced back to the colonial era, which witnessed a forceful imposition of the Bengali language on certain parts of the region. The Bengali presence in the region was perceived as an extension of the colonial regime and this worsened the relationship between the two communities. Dr. Dam’s observation about the Bengalis’ prejudice emphasise how the indigenous people were often alienated in their own land. As the narrative unfurls, the Bengalis are soon relegated to the status of the Other, just as they had viewed the tribals a few years earlier. When the tribal people make this distinction between themself and the immigrant Other, it becomes a counter-discourse to claim their sense of self that had earlier been effaced in the official narrative of the Nation. One can argue that “the novel shows the urgency of re-narrating the nation from the margin and also calls for the rethinking of the concept of nationhood and national identity or belonging.” (Mishra, 2021).

Hasan’s Lunatic in my Head takes this debate further when the outsiders are termed as dkhars and viewed with extreme hostility. The novel explores the seething undercurrents of the ethnic conflict that rages through the veins of Shillong. The political, regional and linguistic cartography of the Northeast had been remarkably altered during the colonial era and the initial years of the post-independence period. During the colonial period, the Bengali presence in the region was encouraged by the Britishers who wanted to assimilate the socio-cultural diversities of the various states into a homogenised mass for ease of governance. The violent undercurrents of Partition and the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 witnessed successive waves of immigrants settling in the Northeast and this further heightened the ethnic tensions in the region. The people of Northeast define identity in terms of their ethnic and linguistic markers and the presence of outsiders who attempt to dilute these signifiers of individual identity has always been a point of conflict. The conflict depicted in Lunatic in my Head has to be analysed from this perspective. Aman, one of the primary focalisers in the narrative, is confused and scared by the hostility that he faces from Max and his cronies because he has always considered Shillong his home. One can argue that home need not always be a location with definite spatio-temporal co-ordinates. It is a concept that is concomitant with a state of security; a feeling of being ‘at home.’ Aman is an outsider who seeks validation of his self. While he is accepted by his Khasi friends, Ribor, Ibomcha and Bodha, there is a strong wave of hostility that he faces due to his status as an outsider. Aman is caught in the ethnic tension that is one of the crucial conflicts raging within the Northeast. After decades of marginalisation, the Northeast internalises this conflict and the resultant Self/ Other dichotomy is one that had been fostered by their invisibility in the national metanarrative.

Sophie Das, a child born to a Bengali father and a ‘North Indian’ mother, internalises this conflict when she shuttles between the security provided by Kong Elsa, the Khasi matriarch and the veiled hostility that she imbibes from Jason, Elsa’s son. Her pain and humiliation at a party (Hasan p. 98-99) make her realise that the world is indeed different for different people. Sophie is ignored at the party because of her outsider status and if not for Elsa’s intervention, the child would have gone hungry. Sophie longs to belong to Elsa’s world so as to defy the mantle of the outsider. “She thought that the nicest thing, the nicest thing by far, . . . would be if she could somehow turn into one of them, somehow become Khasi” (Hasan p. 99). Sophie’s longing to be a Khasi is again a subversion of the tropes seen in mainstream narratives where the marginal dreams of a space of belonging. In the narrative of the Northeast, Sophie is the marginalised, who yearns to gain acceptance through finding Selfhood. Her self has been othered by the rejection at the party and she wishes to reclaim the same by appropriating the elusive identity of a native. The primary marker of identity here is ethnic and Sophie covets this unique identity. Bhagat Oinam comments on the complexities that underline the politics of identity in the Northeast, “As much as caste-based identification and division mark the state of the social and political structure in mainland India, the sociopolitical reality of Northeast India can be well captured through ethnicity-based identities and their dynamics” (Oinam, 2008, p.19). Sophie’s upper-caste identity becomes redundant as she lacks the ethnic status that would help her belong. Hasan has admitted that she deliberately foregrounded the narratives of migrants in the Northeast as it was a theme no one ever addressed (cited in Rahman, 2008). Thus, we have the evolution of counter-narratives within the counter-narratives of the Northeast. The Indian mainland has a number of Northeast migrants and the appalling discrimination that they face is seldom addressed in the metanarratives of the nation. Hasan’s counter-narrative focuses on a conflict that stems from the colonial policy of assimilation and subsequent migrations. The steady arrival of migrants soon turned into an exodus that threatened the demographic balance of the region. The natives’ hostility to the outsiders can also be viewed in the light of their growing anxiety towards what they perceived as a cultural hegemony in terms of linguistic and racial obtrusions. Therefore, Sophie and Aman become the face of the outsiders though they long to belong. The conflicts within the narrative can never be perceived in simplistic terms as it carries the embers of a tension that arose centuries ago.

The ethnic conflict raging within Shillong is emblematic of the identity conflicts that take place throughout India. It is a microcosm of the fissured world that we live in. The place is symptomatic of the nation that we belong to, an India that “is riddled by extremism and hatred for the other, for the outsider and where your identity is increasingly being attached to fixed, political categories, leaving no space for any fluidity and understanding of those who do not fit in into neat compartments” (Singh, 2019). The liminal narratives of Shillong and the other Northeast cities clash with the ossified dominant discourse that hinges on the ideas of nationalism and territorial integrity. As we are busy contesting the notion of authenticity, where does that leave the idea of India? Who then, is the real Indian, and whose narrative is the most authentic? As the earlier notions of a national discourse are now replaced by fragmented narratives, the idea of the nation itself has undergone a sea change. Khilnani notes that “the lines of political connection now run across and among these fragments, and are producing an intricate tessellation of identities” (Khilnani, 2012, p.193).

Conclusion: Towards a Palimpsestic Narrative of Nation

David Huddart defines palimpsests² as “overwritten, heavily annotated manuscripts, on which earlier writing is still visible underneath newer writing: they offer a suggestive model of hybrid identity” (p.107). In an era, which celebrates the fluidity of narratives, it is perhaps imperative to explore nation as a palimpsestic narrative. A narrative that disputes canonical absolutes and embraces the protean power of nascent discourses. The literature from Northeast, both in English and in regional languages, contributes greatly to the rich yarn of a palimpsestic narrative. By foregrounding lived experiences and value systems that are distinctly different from the mainland culture, these liminal narratives forge explosive links between identity, gender, and the politics of power.

The sub-nationalist narratives of the Northeast have emerged as powerful counter-discourses that do not cater to the normative categories of the official narrative. The normative narratives that attempt to paint a glossy picture of turbulent political realities have now exploded in the face of persistent sub-nationalist currents. The monolithic ideals of religion and race; the deification of nation as motherland and the celebration of cliched ideals like unity in diversity are now actively disputed by counter-narratives. The Northeasterners’ pride in their ethnic identity far surpasses their political allegiance to the Indian nation. In the novel, Lunatic in my Head, Aman notices the slogan “We are Khasis by Blood, Indians by Accident” (Hasan, 2007, p.32) as he explores the city with his Khasi friend, Ribor. The slogan becomes a symbol of the principal ethnic identity that the Khasis hold dear. Rather than taking umbrage at this blatant questioning of national identity as one’s primary social marker, one should view identity as a coalescing signifier that binds together the notions of nation, tribe, community, religion and gender into a fluid construct. “Their cultural foreignness to the Indic cultural system clearly marks off the hill “tribes” from the rest of Indians. The non-Indic-ness is the mark of “tribal” identity in the Northeast” (Kalita, 2011, p.1367). The ethnonationalism of the Northeast gains momentum through such palimpsestic narratives as they contest the official discourse of a pan-Indian identity.

India is a ‘nation’ that is home to teeming multitudes that subscribe to diverse socio-cultural, linguistic and religious contexts. How then can we fixate on a notion of a singular identity? In contemporary India, the very idea of defining one’s national identity is an act that is politically charged. Oinam analyses how the concept of “othering the other” (2008, p.21) becomes crucial in the configuration of identity in Northeast India. The counter-narratives that emphasise this process of othering resonate with the reality of the Northeast as opposed to the mainland’s predilection to blatantly ignore the source of conflict. The narratives of Northeast often emphasise the motif of conflict as it outlines the volatility of its socio-political structuring. These narratives enhance the palimpsestic reality of narrating ‘India’ and the ensuing liminalities are as important, if not more important than homogenising metanarratives. “Nation and community remain important, it is just that they need to be imagined in new ways” (Huddart, 2007, p.117). While there is no need to eulogise and idealise the emerging protean narratives, one should embrace its resistance to cower before the monoliths of hegemonical structures and ideological frameworks. “There is no ideological or cultural guarantee for a nation to hold together. It just depends on human skills” (Khilnani, 2012, p.207). The power of the people to narrate and sustain their unique narratives should be lauded as it sets out to trace uncharted territories of “imagined communities.”

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

Endnotes

Focalised: A term used in narrative theory. Focalization specifies the concept of perspective and can be categorised into the focalizer (the one who sees) and the focalized (the one who is seen). Genette and Mieke Bal are the leading theoreticians who have formulated the various aspects of focalization. According to Genette, there are three categories of focalization; non-focalization or zero focalization, internal focalization and external focalization. Zero focalization is characterised by a panoramic point of view. In internal focalization, events are filtered through characters internal to the narrative. Lastly, external focalization refers to a stringent reduction in the amount of narrative information that is available.
Palimpsests are defined as manuscripts or written materials from which the earlier writing or drawing has been erased to create a new layer that can be used again. In ancient times, it was a matter of necessity to re-use these manuscripts due to the acute shortage of parchments, that were primarily used as writing material. The term has also been used in the fields of architecture and archaeology. In modern literary criticism, the idea of palimpsests has been deployed to suggest models of hybridity and plurality. Jawaharlal Nehru viewed India as a palimpsest that has layers of thoughts, beliefs and value systems inscribed as part of its rich heritage. David Huddart has commented on Salman Rushdie’s play with the idea of palimpsestic history in his novels. Critics have commented that Rushdie might have borrowed this palimpsestic ideal from the ideas of Nehru. In the Indian context, one can also view the nation as a palimpsest of pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial histories which exist in a continuum.

References

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Ahanthem, C. (2019). Review of The Many That I Am. Books and Conversations. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from booksandconversations.wordpress.com.

Bhabha, H.K. (1990). Dissemination: Time, Narrative and the Margins of the Modern Nation. H.K. Bhabha (Ed.). Nation and Narration. (pp. 291-322). London: Routledge

Chatterjee, P. (1986). The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s Question. K. Sangari and S. Vaid. (Eds.). Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History. (pp 233-53). New Delhi, India: Kali for Women.

Deb, S. (2003). The Point of Return. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Fludernik, M. (2007). Identity/alterity. D. Herman (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. (pp. 260-73). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Hasan, A. (2007). Lunatic in My Head. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books.

Huddart, D. (2007). Homi K. Bhabha. Routledge Critical Thinkers Series. London: Routledge.

Jayaram, N. (2012). Identity, Community, and Conflict: A Survey of Issues and Analyses. Economic and Political Weekly, 47(38), 44–61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41720163

Kalita, N. (2011). Resolving Ethnic Conflict in Northeast India. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 72, 1354–1367. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44145746

Khilnani, S. (2012). The Idea of India. Haryana, India: Penguin Books.

Longkumer A.Z. (Ed.). (2019). The Many that I am: Writings from Nagaland. New Delhi, India: Zubaan Publishers.

Mishra, K.N. (2021). Review of The Point of Return. India Education Diary. Retrieved December 21, 2021, from indiaeducationdiary.in.

Menezes, V. (2020, September 23). Why is Writing from the Northeast often Ignored by mainland Indian literary culture? Scroll. https://scroll.in/community/article/973821/different-ways-of-belonging-literature-from-indias-north-east-states

Mukherjee, M. (1992). Narrating a Nation. Indian Literature, 35(4 (150)), 138–149. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23337240

Munasinghe, V. (2005). Narrating a Nation through Mixed Bloods. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice, 49(2), 155–163. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23178877

Oinam, B. (2008). State of the States: Mapping India’s Northeast. East-West Center. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep06484

Rahman, A. (2008). Review of Lunatic in My Head. Hindustan Times. Retrieved November 27, 2021, from hindustantimes.com.

Roychowdhury, A. (2021). How the many imaginary lines drawn by the British continue to generate and impact conflicts in the Northeast. The Indian Express. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from indianexpress.com.

Silva, N. (2004). The Gendered Nation: Contemporary Writings from South Asia. New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.

Singh, A. (2019). Review of Lunatic in My Head. The Seer. Retrieved November 28, 2021, from theseer.in.

Walby, S. (1996). Woman and Nation. G. Balakrishnan (Ed.). Mapping the Nation. (pp. 235-54). London, UK: Verso.

Dr. Liji Varghese is an Assistant Professor of English at All Saints’ College, Trivandrum, Kerala. She is also an Approved Research Guide registered with the University of Kerala and has a number of publications and presentations to her credit. Her areas of interest include Gender Studies in Digital Media, Cultural Politics and Indian Literature in English.

Partition and its Afterlife: Tracing Home, Memory and Longing in the Imagination of the Displaced Sylhetis

Assamese Literature/Memory Studies/North East Literature & Culture/Partition Studies/V14N2

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Suranjana Choudhury
Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-3662-9252. Email: tushi.chou@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022. Pages 1-11. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne26

First published: June 25, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract:

As people had to choose between one nation and the other during and after the Partition of 1947, homes were lost and lives were altered forever. India’s northeast, despite continuously bearing the consequences of this historical experience, remains largely an unacknowledged area in Partition studies. Any cursory exploration of Partition scholarship would reveal that Punjab and Bengal remain the primary sites of investigation. Where does one locate specificities of Partition experience of India’s northeast? Creative writers and artists in this region have also engaged with Partition and its seminal impact on the society and culture of India’s northeast. Through a study of select Partition writings from India’s northeast, this paper will examine the different registers of public and personal memories of Partition and its afterlife in the literary imagination of the displaced Sylhetis to bring forth a better understanding of the perpetuity of dislocation, loss and anxiety in the spheres of everydayness. Drawing upon Memory Studies and discourses concerning home and identity, this paper aims to explore how literature becomes important vehicle for representing inscription and transmission of Partition memories and connected idea of a lost home.

Keywords: Partition, Northeast, Sylhet, Memory, Home

To Remember:

To make peace is to forget. To reconcile, it is necessary that memory be faulty and limited. (Sontag, 2003, p. 115)

The act of remembering is compulsively tied up with the act of forgetting because one initiates the occurrence of the other. This phenomenon of simultaneity is symptomatic of various registers of remembering- collective and individual. Paul Ricoeur in his exploration of arsmemoriae observes if “a measured use of memorization also implies a measured use of forgetting” (Ricoeur, 2006, p. 68) and proceeds to further explicate issues concerning the relationship shared between remembering, forgetting and memory. Ricoeur, in his analysis of this complex and layered relationship, contends that it is the initiative to recall or remember that provides crucial scope to reframe forgetting. (Ricoeur,2006) The idea of ethics and aesthetics of memory and its working also assumes significance in our understanding of this connectedness between remembering and forgetting. As a conceptual framework for analyzing historical events, Memory Studies as a discipline offers useful insights and valuable interpretations. This subject of memory and its concomitant dimensions have attained crucial potency in the context of renewed interest invested in addressing and understanding the Partition of 1947 and its afterlife. As people had to choose between one nation and the other during and after Partition, homes were lost and lives were altered forever. Shelley Feldman (2004) while discussing the subject of displacement and its cascading effects in the context of Partition comments pertinently:

For those who chose to move from their place of residence after that date, they were no longer merely changing residence, as in shifting from one city to another for employment or education, but instead were risking immigrant or refugee status in a place that had been, only the day before, part of a shared national space, their home. (p. 113)

The tormenting process of displacement entailed devastation of lived space, cultural practice and social ties. It also signified violence of loss and the unsettling emergence of an immensely difficult life for the displaced. Appropriately noted by Ayesha Jalal (2013) as Partition being “a defining moment that is neither beginning nor end”, it continues to remind us that its perpetuity belongs to our time, to our everyday realities. (1) To this day, this historical episode which is more of an ongoing process significantly impacts discourses concerning identity formations, dynamics of nationhood and communal politics of entire South Asia. The chief engagement of this paper is with select Partition writings from India’s northeast to situate memories of this catastrophic event and the bearing of such memories on constructions of home and identity among Sylheti community residing in the northeast. Through an analysis of chosen narratives, this essay proposes to examine the different registers of public and personal memories of Partition and its afterlife to bring forth a better understanding of the perpetuity of dislocation, anxiety and longing for a lost homeland in the spheres of everydayness as shared by the displaced Sylhetis in different writings.

India’s northeast:

India’s northeast remained primarily an unacknowledged and unexplored site of analysis in Partition studies till very long. However, the story of Partition here, like many other marginalized narratives, has curiously entered the realm of visibility and scholarship only at the present times. Any discussion of Partition experience has addressed Punjab and Bengal as two sites that suffered the violence and loss triggered by division and associated dislocation. It is important to note here that for a very long-time official projects and academic endeavours tended to overlook the primacy of Partition as a seminal occurrence altogether. Instead, one witnesses that maximum attention had been directed towards celebrating and marking 1947 as a glorious historical juncture of the end of oppressive, long-drawn colonial rule. Kavita Daiya (2008) in her discussion on Partition points out how after 1965, Partition violence largely disappeared from public discussion and how it was relegated to a remote past from the perspective of Indian nation-state. It was desirable that the past should be forgotten to maintain harmonious communal relationships within the nation. In his plea for an appropriate revision of historiography, Gyanendra Pandey (2004) has rightly argued that a very simplistic separation has been made between Partition and violence which in turn has led to omissions and erasures of important truths and insights pertaining to Partition experiences. David Gilmartin (1998) in his essay, “Partition, Pakistan and South Asian History: In Search of a Narrative”, had pointed out that the primary issue is the apparent irreconcilable dissonance between articulating a history of ‘high politics’ and that of ‘popular violence’. However, over a phase of the last few decades, historians, ethnographers, anthropologists, and memoirists have directed their attention towards the duality of independence from British colonialism and the enormity of complexities that characterize refugee issues and idea of nationhood. As Tarun Saint (2010) argues in his study of alternative modes of representation and contends that “such counter-narratives allow for the voicing of alternative perspectives and a reckoning with some of the more unpalatable and even grotesque aspects of the Partition experience and its aftermath.” (2) Seeking to retrieve undisclosed gaps and silences, recent studies have initiated valuable discussions about what happened and how things happened. These findings have helped in mapping out the complex nature of Partition legacy and its connected ramifications.

It also remains true that these alternative trajectories of Partition studies have compellingly been centered around Punjab and Bengal experiences. Even today a major research gap in Partition scholarship is inadequate engagement with India’s northeastern region. It is important to remember that Partition has not rendered uniform experience shared by those who crossed borders in the east and the west, it altered on the basis of ethnic, class, caste, gender differences. The case of India’s northeast reiterates the dimension of characteristic heterogeneity of Partition history. Because of the paucity of scholarship on this area, very little has been known to the rest. This contentious past rooted in individual historical constructions and notions has “produced and reproduced the kind of social and political milieu within which the North East region (NER) is situated at present.” (Yumnam,2016, p158) Sanjib Baruah’s contention that in the case of Assam, specifically, the meaning of Partition which has been opening slowly and gradually over time through a tortuous process renders important meaning in the context of understanding multiple truths about Partition in the northeast. (Baruah,2015) When Partition became a reality it impacted community lives, social fabric, and culture of northeast in more ways than one. The displaced communities had to negotiate with numerous problems in the aftermath of the division of the country and continue to remain affected because “India is yet to frame transparent policies linking rights and laws regarding them.” (Sengupta,2016, p. 192) It separated northeast India from the rest of newly formed India except for a slim passage commonly referred to as chicken’s neck. Udayon Mishra (2000) in The Periphery Strikes Back provides an assessment of how Partition made Assam a landlocked province because Chittagong port which was a major outlet for Assam tea became a part of East Pakistan due to Partition. It had an adverse impact on the socio-economic structure of this region. Not only that, it immensely affected societal compositions and everyday realities of various linguistic and ethnic communities who were part of the people of northeast. Binayak Dutta (2019) in his discussion on this aspect pertaining to the Partition experience in India’s northeast alerts us:

The Partition of Bengal and Assam in 1947, culminating in the Radcliffe Line of 1947 divided not only the Hindus and Muslims of this region on religious and ethnic lines, it also divided the smaller ethnic communities like the Khasis, Garos, Hajongs, Rabhas, Karbis Koch-Rajbongshis, the Reangs and the Chakmas, to name a few. (para.9)

This wide-scale diversity of cartographic ramifications and border alignments with altered realities of belonging and identity reminds us of the urgency to recognize Partition as a defining moment that has had far-reaching consequences in the larger scheme of South Asian politics and culture and which to date remains unscripted and unacknowledged.

Sylhet and its specificities:

“My heart cries for the islands on the river Padma, o my dear compassionate folk

My heart cries for the islands

Who shattered my peaceful home, my happy dreams- o my dear compassionate folk?”[i]

As in the case with many cultural and ethnic communities in the northeast, Sylhetis have also been crucial recipients of the Partition experience and its associated terrains of subject formations. The story of Sylhetis in the context of Partition is not the story of a moment, it is the narrative of a continued exile, movement, and resettlement. Sylhet Referendum that had happened around seventy-four years ago and which led to the Partition of Assam is a crucially significant episode that has not been told adequately in mainstream Partition histories. The subtext of Partition (Sylhet) is more absorbing than the dominant text of Bengal Partition because it offers an entirely new perspective to our understanding of Partition politics. (Hossain, 2013) In recent times, questions have started being asked about the reasons behind such absence of representation and inadequate visibility of this important chapter of Partition. It had in reality permanently changed the lives and futures of generations of Sylhetis who were displaced from their homeland to arrive as refugees in the newly formed nation-state. In the wake of the decision to hold the Sylhet Referendum, there was a sincere assumption that Referendum would initiate a proper, clear mandate on the issue of Partition. Unfortunately, the reality was otherwise, a great number of people were displaced, dispossessed and rendered homeless within a very short span of time. Subsequent to the Referendum, most of Sylhet, except the three and a half thanas of Patharkandi, Badarpur, Karimganj and Ratabari, was transferred to East Pakistan. Referring to the complex layers of contextual politics and machinations that shaped the orchestration of the referendum, Mousumi Dutta Pathak (2012) notes that it was the “shared responsibility of the two religious communities of East Pakistan- the Hindus and the Muslims and the two linguistic communities of Assam or specifically the Brahmaputra Valley- the Assamese and the Bengalis.” (159) Because a sense of unpreparedness prevailed around the event, the displaced community struggled hard to negotiate with the changed circumstances. This forced displacement of Sylhetis, as argued by Anindita Dasgupta, “created and erased the newly drawn national boundaries by building diasporas and ‘de-territorialized’ fractured identities across South Asia on the one hand, and by raising serious questions about the authenticity and citizenship of Partition migrants on the other.” (2014,p.15)Seven decades on, this specter of the past and contentions surrounding its materiality raise fundamental questions about memory, home, and identity.

In this context, it is useful to indicate the potential of literary representations of Sylhet chapter of Partition to understand the negotiations of the public as well as personal memories of this historical experience. Literature is perhaps one of the most potent means of properly expressing essential truths about human dilemmas and understanding the world around us. It is useful to recall what Svend Erik Larsen (2016) notes about the role of literature:

Human experience, broken or not, is always local; it takes place as it were. But literature is always invested with translocal motifs, genres, metaphors, symbols, plots; characters travel across cultural boundaries in order for any local literature to come into being and, hence, to suggest interpretations of a local life world. Literature makes possible a shared understanding of human experience, but it does so by turning it into memory in a translocal perspective. (514)

The issue of how and what to represent in the midst of loss and crisis of displacement was not easy to resolve, especially keeping in mind the fraught history of Referendum politics and its connected dissonances. Furthermore, people who were at the receiving end of Partition-induced displacement were intensely busy resettling and starting life anew. These groups of displaced Sylheti people were engaged in rebuilding lives and homes in different parts of northeast. Moreover, the experience of loss and pain was raw and fresh for many to be able to come up with meaningful articulations. A sense of reticence marked literary imagination of creative writers and artists who could have taken this up. This initial lack of literary responses, in the words of Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee and Dipendu Das, should be viewed as a failure of the writers to “distance themselves from their immediate context and explore the themes in literary productions.” (Bhattacharjee &Das,2012, p.xi)It is pertinent to note that Barak Valley of Assam, which is Bhattacharjee and Das’s point of reference, happens to be the primary locus of most discussions concerning Sylheti culture and society in a post Partition milieu. Speaking about this pall of silence surrounding Partition, Amitabha Dev Choudhury points towards the lack of any internal evidence which may bring any ready-made answer to the issue. He further contends that “there is not a single signifier anywhere that can tempt the reader to read this silence itself as a narrative.” (Dev Choudhury, 2013) Eventually, this silence was challenged and new voices emerged to embody different layers of issues signifying post Partition predicament. One witnesses how the experience of loss and pain, consequent to displacement, produced important reflections on exile and memories of a lost home. A popular folk song records this measure of dispossession and vulnerability poignantly:

“O dear kin, you have visited my home after a long time

What shall I offer you here at my place?

I have neither roof nor hearth, only endless woes

Selling off all my possessions, I am bereft of all savings

I left my homeland because of Partition….”[ii]

This song further tells us how home before Partition meant prosperity and availability, this lost world, described with markers of plentitude, is reflective of an intimate, endearing and everyday memory. Here, this powerful engagement with Partition through the lens of memory is suggestive of a larger issue predicated on emotions of longing, loss, and return. The evocation of a lost place and longing connected with it is central to the analysis of literature written about a home left behind by the Sylhetis. And while memory of a lost homeland is invariably imbued with a discourse of loss, the idea of return is something that remains deeply problematic. As Stephan Feuchtwang (2003) has posited that a home is a mappable place of shared memory, acts of remembering, grieving and yearning demonstrate avenues for multifold layers of understanding home and belonging. It is interesting to note here that quite a few fictional representations written about lost home in Sylhet and subsequent trauma play out in various ways this interconnectedness between territory and self. Jhumur Pandey’s short story “Lost and Found” (originally published as “Mokkhodasundorir Haranoprapti”) is an apt example of this. At one point, Mokkhoda, the central figure in the story, reflects how her life is “based on memories; on dreams; on pain.” (Pandey, 2017, p.283) In exploring the relationship between mapping of places and the functional aspect of nostalgia Elizabeth Wilson (1997) points out that romance of nostalgia is tied both to a place which is lost and that we tend to understand our present through the remote perspective of the past. A complex web of desire and memory through which homeland is constructed by the protagonist here is symptomatic of many such constructions by survivors of Partition. Lore Segal in her work “Memory: The Problems of Imagining the Past” (1998) claims how recollection is a double experience like a double exposure, the time frame in which one remembers superimposes itself on the remembered time and the two images fail to synchronize perfectly at any point. The short story is replete with a delirious outpouring of an individual about a spatial entity of the past that is defined through its plentitude, bountifulness, and a kind of emotional comfort that is completely absent in post Partition life. The fragmented, non-sequential narrative switching continuously between past and present is heavily invested on the production of a sheltered home which is profoundly connected with the identity of the speaker. Her desire for her village concentrates equally on objects and activities thereby representing an affective intensity for a world that was known, whole, and that also must be experienced as a lack in the present context. This compulsion, as explained by Halbwachs, (1950) is the reason for remembering places and objects. Focusing on an amalgamation of objects and activities, Mokkhoda remembers her land, the sky, the water, and the sports had she indulged in:

“Mokkhoda remembers playing prisoner in the rain. She remembers Bamacharan Bhattacharya’s little school. Steamed leaves of amrul, the soft flesh inside palm fruits, tall tamarind trees, Karimchacha, the banks of the river Manu, Nehru at Panchabati, Aminabibi, a sweet dish made of taro roots. Some patchy visions and memories assail her.” (Pandey,2017, p.283)

Her remembrance in terms of earth, water, plants and other elements of nature can be read as a layered lamentation of emotions she associates with the topography of her erstwhile home and it also serves as a reminder of an embodied experience of a territory with which she shares a deep sense of belonging. The noted author Amit Chaudhuri, discussing Ritwik Ghatak’s engagement with Partition in his films, records how air, water, and sky are invoked as properties available to the homeless to embark on the task of memory-making. Chaudhuri notes:

Ghatak’s images of Partition, thus, are the elemental ones of land, water, and sky, suggesting the composition of the universe in its original form, and belonging to mythology of creation. It’s not so much history-book Partition we have here as the world as an immigrant or exile or newcomer would see it, starting from scratch and reconstructing his life and his environment from nothing.” (Chaudhuri, 1997, p.95)

Mokkhoda with her lost son and husband seeks out an escape from a life that has turned topsy-turvy owing to Partition and which shall not offer her any relief from her immediate circumstances of destitution and denial. Ananya Jahanara Kabir (2013) in her analysis of Siddharth Deb’s novel demonstrates how this “spatio-temporal elsewhere” with its vivid description of “tempestuous rivers, fishes and snakes, its groves overflowing with mangoes, guavas and jackfruits” is lost to Dr. Dam’s mind. (111) Kabir further contends how that left behind place is “a knot around which swirls remembering and forgetting, narrating and silencing.” (77) The concluding part of the story foregrounds the need for connecting Mokkhoda’s personal narrative of loss and rumination with the larger narrative of country’s Partition and how she finds her lost husband and son not in the real sphere of existence , but in the realm of a fractured, dream-like sequence of narration .The final lines of the story which say, “the shower of memories and dreams are running in rivulets down her shrunken body”(Pandey,283)and also how “Mokkhoda spreads her arms out in deep and longing”(Pandey, 283) give a sense of the merger of the linguistic with the somatic to establish an illusory reconciliation.

In Amitabha Dev Choudhury’s short story “Wake Up Call” (originally published as Ghoombhanganiya), it is possible to discern an interweaving of the theme of memories sweeping across generations and the texture of longing for another time and place. This story told from the perspective of a second-generation recipient of the Partition experience represents the trope of interconnectedness and entanglement of impressions of homeland and mental cartography remembered, desired and articulated by different subject positions. Just as arbitrariness of political boundaries and new forms of belonging and citizenship had assailed Thamma in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, similar mode of affliction is conveyed through the character of Masi, an elderly woman in the neighbourhood of the narrator.

Alastair Bonnett, (2015) talking about the persistence of loss in the realm of migrant nostalgia, makes us aware about how loss and longing have different consequences. He states how this sense of loss and longing “range from and shift between creative attempts to re-script identity in new contexts to forms of exclusionary identity politics” (p. 97). Masi’s persistent yearning for home and concurrently her desire to return that remains unfulfilled imply a loss of personal wholeness and moral certainty which is examined as an important component in Bryan Turner’s discussion about the second level of nostalgia. (Turner, 1987) Masi’s mental map cataloguing “lush green fields; vast horizons, endless expanse of water, full-grown crops of corn bending downwards in the vast open golden fields; the archetypal dwelling places of rural Bengal; the big ponds; the clamouring fish; the village barns spilling over with the overflowing reserve of harvest…” (Dev Choudhury,2012, p.142) is indicative of a reflexive, interminable relationship that she shared with her village. Edward Said contends in “Invention, Memory and Place” that in recent years it is possible to witness an increasing interest in the interface between humanities and social sciences: memory and geography or, more specifically, the study of human space. (Said,2000) This aspect is evident in most of the stories discussed in this paper. Anjali Gera Roy in her essay, “Memories of lost homes” (2020) provides compelling insights into the ongoing debates surrounding notions of home, displacement and longing in the context of India’s Partition. She notes, “The choice of places and objects- a street, a terrace, a fruit, a snack, a sport or a melody- that evoke sentiments of longing in Partition refugees is inexplicable to those who have not partaken in the cultural memories of those shared pleasures” (Gera Roy, 2020, p.138). The overt source of pain and loss in “Wakeup Call” is a kind of irresolution that will forever affect generations of displaced community in the northeast because of Partition’s cartographic consequences. What Jahanara Kabir terms as “Cartographic Irresolution” (Kabir,2013,72) while contextualizing northeast’s marginalization and its consequent identity politics is powerfully evoked in the narrative through constant endeavours to arrive at an understanding of a settled home. The emotional anatomy of Masi in relation to the territory she is unable to go back to throws out the set of complications unleashed by political conundrum on individuals who must wrestle with multiple identities, pasts and presents. Masi’s chronic ‘out of place’ situation is set in parallel motion with the narrator’s own sense of exile and longing. Focusing on inter-generational dynamics of remembrance and forgetting, the story is structured around a complex encounter between two generations’ affective ties with their partitioned pasts. For the narrator, a historical event that had happened much before his birth continues to influence his identity formation and determines inscription of such formations within particular spaces. The author examines psychological effects of quest for a stable and settled home on a subjectivity that does not remain unified, it gets blurred between the narrator, his mother and the character of Masi, as he reflects, “I wonder, after all these years, why couldn’t this land become her own? The search for one’s homeland eventually becomes synonymous with the longing for one’s childhood. Isn’t it a familiar adage that in old age a man enters his second childhood?” (Dev Choudhury, 2012, p.144) Fragmentation of memory is the tenor of this short story and it is through this fragmented and oblique representation of memory that one discovers a concern with deeper patterns underlying everyday experience of dislocation and longing for an elsewhere.

Svetlana Boym (2001) talks about restorative nostalgia as something that involves a desire to “rebuild the lost home” and views the past with an eye towards reconstituting and recreating it, it also implies a desire to relive those special moments. Very often, for the displaced community, it is used as a kind of strategy to ameliorate struggles pertaining to the experience of dislocation. It becomes important to draw on the restorative potential of nostalgia for the native home to cope with their existing dilemmas. Anjali Gera Ray gives an insightful analysis of emotional affiliation and affective belonging to the homeland and its subsequent impact and in this regard, she comments that nostalgic recollections oftentimes in selecting the convivial “exhibit an exilic yearning for a lost home and are coloured with emotions of love, care, attachment, friendship, happiness and comfort for spaces, objects, practices and people.” (Gera Roy, 2020, p.132) Mukti Choudhury’s memory piece “Tale of Broken India” (originally published as “Bhanga Bharater Kotha”) is another reminder of the role of memory-work in which identity of the displaced is brought into being at the intersection of place and selective remembrance. The narrative conducts a motion towards a place and time, a journey back in time from the ruins in the present. Like many other Partition survivors, the narrator places an array of visual detailing to establish his affiliation with lost physical space with all its material features and also to underline the close connection between memory and displacement. As the author describes:

Who do I explain and how do I explain that a sense of Viraha[iii] plays through my entire being? Through a journey into that remote homeland, I derive a wonderful pleasure, I smell the earth of my motherland. I feel the soft touch of paddy grain and I affectionately embrace the fragrance of shiuli-rose-gandharaj flowers. I rest my on head on the shore of Manu listening to fairy tales, at midnight of Monsoon I hear the cacophony of the boatmen of Hakaluki, I listen to the tune of Bhatiali, I take a long walk amidst Surma Valley touching the tealeaves on my way to the villages of Baramchal, Samser Nagar, Sreemangal, Chhatak, Sayestaganj, Chunarughat, Habiganj and immerse myself…. (Choudhury, 2013, p.245)

The author clings on to his personal memories describing and evoking haptic, sonic, and visual dimensions of his own place in the midst of decreasing collective anchoring and attempts to bring forth a unified locality with an enshrined past that will activate a better understanding of his self. Raymond Williams (1985) noted that “landscape takes on a different quality if you are one of those who remember” (72) and the remembering agent here through his cognitive mapping brings alive distant Sylhet land with all its everyday splendors and that mapping is constitutive of his own sense of self. It is useful to note here that remembrance, time, place and loss are phenomenological realities and it clearly implies how echoes of past places might resonate with displaced people also it is easy to map how the loss of a particular place produces a keen sense of nostalgia. One finds a similar resonance in Margaret E Farrar’s essay, “Amnesia, Nostalgia and Place Memory” (2011) where she argues how “accounts of people’s experiences of displacement—whether as a migrant, exile, or refugee—repeatedly emphasize the interconnections between body, mind, and place.” (728) Choudhury’s narrative shows how investment in memory entails the opening of a repeated process of continuous and fragile negotiations that may always remain a risk and may never offer final reconciliation. This is an essential point of view that runs through most of the narratives written about Partition. Indeed, this study has attempted to demonstrate how forms of longing and mental cartography assume a new poignancy in the context of newer battles of identity politics. The canvas of representations produced by Sylheti imagination insists on the layered nature of memory and illuminates our understanding of how home might not be a palpable, tangible entity, it might just exist only in writing.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

Notes

[i] Hemango Biswas, the noted singer, composer, poet and political activist composed these memorable lines to convey his pain and angst after experiencing dislocation in the wake of Partition. The composition, in a way, talks about collective sense of suffering and longing for homeland.

[ii] This widely sung Sylheti folk song brings forth the idea of dispossession and vulnerability that attends to it. The entire song echoes a kind of sadness for having lost everything due to Partition and it is sharply contrasted with prosperous life before the division had happened.

[iii] Viraha refers to an emotion of separation and realization of love through that phase of separation. It is a common trope used in Partition fictions and reminiscences to express the intensity of longing for homeland on the other side of the border.

References

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Dasgupta Anindita. (2014). Remembering Sylhet: Hindu Muslim voices from a nearly forgotten story of India’s Partition. Manohar

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Dr. Suranjana Choudhury teaches literature at North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Her areas of interest include Partition Studies, Women’s Writing and Cultural Studies. Her recently published books include A Reading of Violence in Partition Stories from Bengal published by Cambridge Scholars, UK, and a co-edited volume titled Understanding Women’s Experiences of Displacement: Literature, Culture and Society in South Asia published by Routledge.

The question of the ‘foreigners’ in select fictional narratives from Assam

Assamese Literature/Memory Studies/North East Literature & Culture/Partition Studies/Trauma Studies/V14N2

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Rimi Nath
Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India. ORCID ID 0000-0001-9366-5498. Email: riminath664@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022. Pages 1-9. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne25

First published: June 25, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

In this age of metamorphosis of cultural transition and assimilation, in this age where everyone in one sense or the other is a migrant, the issue of identity can never be resolved. Iain Chambers (1994) holds that migrancy “calls for a dwelling in language, in histories, in identities that are constantly subject to mutation” (p. 5). ‘Home’ sometimes becomes a provisional location as it fails to provide assurance and security; and hence, in many instances, one witnesses an individual’s desire to break free, to migrate. Memory and narratives can be seen as symbolic ways of making homes, of negotiating different and competing allegiances. Jahnavi Barua’s novel, Undertow, Arupa Patangia Kalita’s novellas and stories like ‘Face in the Mirror’, ‘The Half-burnt Bus at Midnight’, stories from the Barak Valley of Assam like Moloy Kanti Dey’s ‘Ashraf Ali’s Homeland’, Amitabha Dev Choudhury’s ‘Wake Up Call’, Arijit Choudhury’s ‘Fire’, among others, provide multiple perspectives on the question of identity. The paper seeks to delve into select fictional narratives from Assam and analyse the question of ‘foreigners’, keeping in mind the current discourses on the issue of migration, especially the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Keywords: Assam, identity, migration, Bangladeshi, foreigners

Introduction: The question of ‘foreigners’

Assam has been through different phases of ethnic nationalisms and the region has been through different phases of inclusion and exclusion geographically, ethnically and culturally. Assam has been grappling with the issue of ‘foreigners’ for a long time and the question of Bangladeshis, in particular, has become the most crucial factor in Assam’s politics. Terms that are used to describe Bangladeshis in Assam are: settlers, Bongal, bohiragoto (outsider), bideshi (foreigner), illegal migrants, illegal immigrants, invaders, Bengali peasantry, land-hungry Muslims, land grabbers, Mia Muslims, undocumented migrants, etc. (Shamshad, 2017, p. 59). In the book, Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia (2016), Partha S. Ghosh highlights how the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants is a “subject on which everybody seems to be knowing so much, still they know so little, largely because of the unavailability of hard data” (p. xii). There are assumptions, fragmentations, doubts, fears and lost/ forgotten documents that heighten the confusion.

Nandana Dutta, in the introduction to Questions of Identity in Assam (2012), points out “that existing interpretations of migration and nation did not and could not do justice to the location” (p. xx). When Assam was made a part of the Bengal Presidency in 1905, the fear of loss of identity because of the demographic changes, crept up, and the Bengali speakers were seen as the ‘other’. Bodhisattva Kar (2011) highlights the forgotten history of Bengali racism, on the other hand, during the partition of Bengal in 1905 where the Bengalis saw the Assamese as the ‘other’ (p. 45). Assam’s position as a separate province was restored in 1911, with the unification of Bengal. The Muslim League demanded that Assam be a part of East Pakistan. Assam, as a British colonial province, included Sylhet while prior to 1874, Sylhet was a part of Bengal (Baruah, 2015, p. 82-83). In 1947, Sylhet became a part of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) except for a portion of it (a part of Karimganj subdivision in Barak Valley) which remained in India. Sanjib Baruah (2015) highlights that for Assam “the meaning of partition has been unfolding slowly over decades through a torturous process” (p. 81). The British colonial rule encouraged the settlement of Muslim East Bengali peasants in Assam while Partition instigated massive movements. Many people migrated to Assam in 1965, during Ayub Khan’s regime in Pakistan, and Assam also sheltered refugees during and after the Bangladeshi Liberation War of 1971.

Shamshad (2017) lists five distinct phases of the anti-Bengali and later anti-Bangladeshi discourse in Assam. “The Bengali officials presented the immediate face of colonialism” (p. 253) and the anti-colonial, anti-Bengali discourse ensued from the fear of the Assamese elite – of loss of power. The second phase started with the fear of territorial loss which crept up with the arrival of the Bengali cultivators brought in by the colonial officials. The potential loss of demographic dominance during Partition is listed as the third phase. The tussle for language supremacy in the 1960s/70s is the next phase and the fifth phase is the Assam movement (1979-85)” (p. 253). The language issue in Assam created riots during the 1960s and 70s, where “the Official Language Movement of 1960 and the Medium of Instruction Movement of 1972…were based on the ‘Assam for Assamese’ ideology. The Bengalis of Barak valley had protested against it” (Ghoshal, 2021, p. xv). Weiner (1983) highlights that during that time Bengali Muslims had much to gain by siding with the Assamese (in securing their stay) but with the Assam Movement, this alliance faltered, where the “Bengalis in Assam – both Hindus and Muslims – became ‘foreigners’ to the Assamese” (Shamshad, 2017, p. 77). Shamshad (2017) highlights how gradually the Nepali migrants completely fell out of discourse and the only migrants who were considered ‘illegal’ were from Bangladesh (p.101).

The difficulty of identifying illegal immigrants persists and the question of rehabilitation or granting citizenship becomes complex and ambiguous. Neither the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (IMDT Act) nor the Assam Accord could bring any resolution to the ‘foreigners’ issue. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) also has its shortcomings and pitfalls. The detection and repatriation of ‘illegal foreigners’ is an ongoing process as a recent news report states that “till October 31, 2021, as many as 1,42,206 illegal foreigners have been detected in the State. Among them, altogether 29, 663 were pushed back till December 15 of this year”. (The Assam Tribune, 2021, p. 1)

Shamshad (2017) points out that with Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) entry into Assam’s politics “Assam’s anti-Bengali ethnic nationalist discourse” changed to “anti-Bengali Muslim ethno-religious discourse” (p. 254). The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-BJP coalition further strengthened it. In Chatterji’s Breaking Worlds: Religion, Law and Citizenship in Majoritarian India – The Story of Assam (2021), we find a strong criticism of the Hindutva ideology and the writers voice their fear about ‘absolute nationalism’. The agitation in Assam against illegal immigrants has targeted Hindus as well; but with the changing political scenario, largely the Muslim population begins to get targeted:

“In Assam, the NRC and Foreigners Tribunals have commenced the political segregation of “national subjects” and rights-bearing citizens from “invaders” without rights. A disproportionate number of persons who are alleged to be “foreigners” and “illegal persons” are Muslims. “Miya” Muslims, from marginalised social classes are the principal target.” (p. 56)

We have seen the state changing its response to changing political scenarios. The recent development, i.e., the fourth amendment of the Citizenship Act in which the intent has been to grant citizenship to people who have fled religious persecution from neighbouring countries (including Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Zoroastrians), the Hindutva orientation of the government came under scrutiny amidst mass agitation. The anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) movement was based on the “Assamese” people’s “fear of demographic swamping…and raised, once again, questions about their citizenship rights” (Goswami, 2021, p. 1). While some saw NRC and CAA as discriminatory, especially against the Muslims, many saw CAA as discriminatory while they supported the NRC. The Hindus who have lived with the stigma of being illegal migrants in the region did not see the situation working in their favour either. The majority of the population did not seem to be aware of the historicity of the documents. NRC and CAA also saw opposite reactions from the general masses of the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys. The Bangladeshi issue has been a matter of much contestation heightening the difficulty of coming to any negotiable position.

To consider the citizenship debate, reports that show Indians giving up citizenship provide another perspective. According to a report published in The Wire, from 2016-20 just 4,177 persons were granted Indian citizenship – where “for every one person who has been granted Indian citizenship in the past four years and more, 145 persons have forgone their citizenship” (Bhatnagar, 2021, para. 2). Also, the statistics that four out of ten applicants were granted citizenship and that maximum applications came from the citizens of Pakistan are also data that need to be considered and evaluated at the national and regional levels.

Analysing Select Fictional Narratives from Assam

Fictional narratives from Assam provide different perspectives on the question of ‘foreigners’. Telling or writing a story can, to a large extent, help in the process of negotiation. Narratives can be a form of travel, which can traverse the distance between communities or societies in their exploration of inner journeys. In Jahnavi Barua’s Undertow (2020), the question of foreigners and the agitation against them is highlighted as an overpowering consciousness. The novel touches upon the turbulent times of the Assam movement, of how “the state had been thrown into chaos” (p. 17). The central character, Rukmini, has marched on the streets too. Rukmini ponders upon the bandhs in Assam (which has been absolute) where everything “came to a grinding halt” (p. 19):

“No one challenged the protests because everyone supported them, understood the need for them. Nothing so complete was possible without deep feeling. The people were gripped with an urgent desire to fulfill what the Boys had begun: to make the government do its duty; to expel illegal aliens, instead of arming them with citizenship and voting rights.” (Barua, 2020, p. 19)

“Four years now and the Agitation – it was aptly named, the movement the students had launched in 1979 – showed no signs of abating. The people of Assam had not lost hope or courage or energy yet. They spilled out onto the streets in their thousands when summoned by the student leaders – the Boys, as they were affectionately called – to picket and demonstrate and protest, and stayed indoors with windows closed and lights out when ordered to by the same leaders.” (Barua, 2020, p. 17)

The question of illegal immigrants in Assam has been quite complex because of the political, historical, and geographical reasons, as highlighted in the introduction. There have also been cases of people acquiring documents illegally facilitated by communal sympathy, corruption or carelessness on the part of the officials. It is difficult to demarcate illegal immigrants from ‘original’ inhabitants and “as a result, neither the Assamese Bengalis nor the Assamese Muslims could fully identify themselves with the Assam agitation” (Ghosh, 2016, p. 224). What the character, Rukmini, refers to as “so complete” may not have actually been absolute. Through her research, Shamshad (2017) also studies how the Assamese and Bengali Muslims saw each other:

“The ethnic Assamese representatives of the civil society who were interviewed in this research did not express any hostile views or see the Bengali Muslims/ Bangladeshi migrants as an economic or security threat.” (p. 253)

Shamshad (2017) highlights how “the exercise of violence is a constant factor in the process of ‘Othering’” (p. 250) – violence that is state induced and also the ethnic flare.

In Jahnavi Barua’s novel Undertow (2020), when Rukmini decides to marry Alex (an outsider from Kerala) “she felt like a traitor” (p. 19) adhering to the insider-outsider tension in her consciousness. She has been a traitor even to her mother who accused Rukmini of betraying “state and race and family” (p. 19). Rukmini realises the pain of being treated as an outsider when she herself receives such treatment from Alex’s family. Rukmini’s daughter Loya, who is raised in Bangalore, is surprised to see how “strong a subject it (politics) was in life here” (p. 86). Loya comes to know that “the illegal migrants had been received with open arms by the government, which, sensing the opportunity for a vote bank, had even issued them with citizenship papers” (p. 86-87). Loya also comes to know about Robin Koka’s grandson, who, being fascinated by the revolution against foreigners, joins the insurgents, the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam). In Assam, the anti-colonial discourse surged with the ULFA, where India was seen as the coloniser (Shamshad, 2017, p. 254). Since its inception in 1979, the insurgent organisation emphasised on the national liberation of Assam. They maintained that “the question of ‘secession’ is a mistaken one since ‘historically’, Assam has never been a part of the Indian nation and its location within the political map of India has to be explained simply as a fact of ‘colonial occupation’” (Kar, 2011, p. 57).

It is interesting to note that in Barua’s Undertow (2020) Loya questions the idea of a ‘foreigner’. When her grandfather tells her about the Ahom dynasty – “a race of princes from the Shan state of Burma” (p. 148), she insists that they are migrants, to which her grandfather remarks: “Isn’t everyone, in the beginning?” (p. 148). Her grandfather tells her about their assimilation,

“Yes, but they settled down. Assimilated. Converted to Hinduism from Buddhism and married our local girls. Why, they even gave up their old Tai language” (p. 148).

The statement raises questions like if forsaking religion or language can be the only way an immigrant may be accepted? What are the grounds of assimilation? Can the ‘foreigners’ of Assam ever assimilate? Can assimilation not happen if cultural/ religious/ linguistic differences are respected? Will Kymlicka in Politics in the Vernacular (2001) highlights how minority nationalisms are not always illiberal, pre-modern or xenophobic and questions, “…is it permissible to adopt illiberal policies in order to create conditions under which civic forms of minority nationalism can emerge?” (p. 277). There are no definite answers. The sad disappearance of Loya towards the end of the novel, when a blast rocks the Bazaar in Guwahati, shows the futility of violence. Loya embodies both the elements of an insider and an outsider (her father being an outsider from Kerala and her mother from Assam). In her disappearance, both the insider and the outsider become victims, where symbolically violence consumes all.

The plight of the refugees, their lost homelands, their trouble and brutal torture – are mainly captured in the stories from the Barak Valley of Assam. The stories also highlight how threats to life and livelihood lead to migration from Bangladesh as “the migration of the uprooted refugee families was primarily for seeking refuge and a national identity” (Ghoshal, 2021, p. 37). In Arijit Choudhury’s ‘Fire’ (2012), the protagonist, Mahendra Das, faces the consequence of not supporting the Assam Movement, the “cruelty meted out to innocent people, be it murder or arson” (p. 63). According to Mahendra:

“Spotting a Bengali-Hindu or a Muslim or a Nepali, immediately branding him ‘foreigner’ and inflicting torture on him is inhuman and unjust. Even if one is a foreigner that does not mean that he should be driven away or his house and belongings should be burnt down – Mahendra would never support this.” (p. 56)

In the story, we see that the nearby villagers (who are Bengali-Muslims) are called Bangladeshis although they have never been to Bangladesh. Mahendra’s house is set on fire by the people of his own village, who consider him to be a traitor, “an agent of the Bengalis!” (p. 56). Within the imagined nation/state, battle lines are drawn, as Siddhartha Deb in his novel, The Point of Return (2004), describes the nation as a fortress where “new battle lines were being drawn and fresh groups of people were being defined as outsiders, borders bristling with barbed-wire teeth” (p. 221).

When Ashraf Ali moves to Assam (to Karimganj) from Bangladesh as a child, in Moloy Kanti Dey’s ‘Ashraf Ali’s Homeland’ (2012), he feels happy –

“When? When did they cross the border? Why was there no wall anywhere? It was merely like a stroll from one street to another. Is this how the two countries were divided then? Ashraf seemed to be in a trance. Hindustan, Bharatbarsha. It’s not a separate country – rather an assurance that promises supply of food.” (p. 119)

The ‘shadow lines’ that borders are highlighted in his sentiments. When Ashraf Ali is marked as a foreigner amidst the Bangladeshi row, the fate of his family becomes uncertain. They are deported and their destiny remains unknown.

Fear and discrimination incite the surfacing of nostalgia for a lost or ‘imaginary’ homeland. In another story ‘Wakeup Call’ by Amitabha Dev Choudhury (2012), the narrator’s family has had to flee Bangladesh in the 50’s in order to survive. The narrator struggles to come to terms with his own identity as a foreigner as he cannot think of any place as his home other than where he is, i.e., Assam –

“Yes! This is my homeland, my own soil. Eternal! Embodiment of my soul! My beloved nest of tranquility! My dream! My memory! My identity!” (p. 148).

The fond memories or stories of a lost homeland linger but that place is no longer home. In any tale of migration, there is always a contestation between humanitarian support and nativist backlash. Partha S. Ghosh (2016) asks the much-debated humanitarian questions, “Is not it, once again, the question of refugees’ rights, and not state doing a favour to them? Minorities in Pakistan or Bangladesh were not responsible for the Partition of India.” (p. 220)

During the Assam Movement, there were numerous attacks in places like Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, among others. In the larger backdrop of the anti-foreigners protest, the Nellie massacre happened. Samrat in Insider Outsider(2018b) writes: “The danger in any tale of victimhood is the obverse: victims on the one hand and villains on the other” (p. ix). In her stories, Arupa Patangia Kalita (2015) highlights the communalisation of the Assam movement. In the story ‘Face in the Mirror’ Kalita writes:

“In August, a young girl took many bullets in her body, her body was perforated by gaping holes. She had come from outside the state, looking for the body of her husband, crying and beating her breasts in sorrow. In March, a talented professor had committed suicide. 1991. The killings that defied counting.” (p. 138).

The protagonist of the short story shows her displeasure when her cousin’s husband, “a leader of Assam’s andolon, agitation” (p. 142) becomes angry as she praises her Muslim house help, Zamila. He tells his wife, “I now know why your sister is so fond of Bangladeshis” and then addressing the protagonist, he says, “You know Baidew, don’t indulge these people. You were talking about cleaning the bedpan etc. If you allow them to enter the house, they will even lick your feet…Keep an eye, if nothing can be done about them we’ll kill them all” (p. 146). The protagonist ironically smiles and says, “We’ve heard that people of Assam should forget about humanity. This is the time to forget humanity.” (p. 146)

As a writer, Arupa Patangia Kalita, often gets targeted for her stand against the brutality of the movement. This resonates in another story, ‘Surabhi Barua and the Rhythm of Hooves’, where the protagonist Surabhi Barua –

“Became one of the few who stood against the Assam agitation. She wrote a few articles, saying again and again that this overwhelming sentimental outlook would stand in the way of constructing a strong Assamese national character.” (Kalita, 2015, p. 194)

Expressing her viewpoints calls for trouble as it calls for trouble for “a section of intellectuals who had to pay a heavy price for protesting against the unreasonable dictat of the so-called separatist leaders” (Biswas, 2015, p. 215). Kalita’s writings, thus, make a strong comment on the meaninglessness of jingoism, xenophobia and mindless killings.

The writers discussed above, both from the Brahmaputra and the Barak valleys of Assam, bring to light the humanitarian ground relating to the question of the ‘foreigners’ in Assam. They are able to transcend the ethno-religious boundaries in raising their voice against atrocities and mindless divisions. In a world where border lines are rigorously drawn, the writers highlight the necessity of preserving borders from encroachers while at the same time they talk about the futility of violence. There is empathy and perceptiveness regarding what it actually feels to be an ‘outsider’.

Conclusion: Between Memory and Forgetting

Citizenship continues to be a contested domain in Assam. There is a jostle between the ideas of nationalism and globalisation. Colonialism continues in the form of subjugation: “the domination and denigration of the Hills, the delegitimation and chastisement of Bhati, the inauthentication and vilification of the ‘settlers’” (Kar, 2011, p. 54). This subjugation leads to ‘othering’ that brings in the question of authenticity. The search for authenticity has been crucial in any societal formation (province/ state/ nation). However, we can question if there is anything called authentic identity or if authenticity is a desire. In Assam the question of foreigners versus authentic citizens has been the reason for the region’s political and social volatility. The definition of ‘Assamese’ still remains a matter of debate and contestation. A recent report states how a sub-committee formed by the State Government in 2006 to formulate the definition of ‘Assamese’ as per Clause 6 of the Assam Accord still could not come to a conclusion after seeking views from different organisations and bodies as only a few organisations could submit their views in this regard (The Assam Tribune, 2021, p. 1). It is difficult to resolve the politics surrounding migration. The Assam agitation while initially upholding the agenda of safeguarding Assamese identity in the face of the fear of ‘foreigners’ soon degenerated “from an anti-foreigner agitation to an anti-non-Assamese agitation by turning its wrath against even the domestic migrants from other parts of India, mostly Bihar” (Ghosh, 2016, p. 223-24). Kar rightly says, “territorial nationalism can never abolish its mythical other – colonialism – which always threatens to lodge itself within the very claims of nationalism” (Kar, 2011, p. 57). Memory and narratives, in this regard, can provide multiple perspectives while trying to negotiate different and competing allegiances.

“Memory is also about what you decide to remember, so that you can make sense of what has been irrevocably lost” (Deb, 2004, p. 192). Memory, which operates within the realm of forgetting, distortions, manipulations/ modifications, partial memory, selective memory, representation and narration, plays an important role in the process of negotiation. Memories help in reshaping boundaries and, hence, help in the process of negotiation. Collective memory, especially that of trauma, is difficult to erase. But then there are questions asking if amnesia will reduce the effects of trauma or if it is justified to forget the trauma, if it is necessary to carry the burden of trauma or if forgetting the history of violence will lead to its repetition and if acknowledging the memories will lead to a kind of resolution? In the book, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness (1998), Martha Minow writes – “To seek a path between vengeance and forgiveness is also to seek a route between too much memory and too much forgetting” (p. 118). Forgetting is also a very important part of memory and hence narratives play an important role in developing perspectives, as Benedict Anderson asserts, “all profound changes in consciousness, by their very nature, bring with them characteristic amnesias. Out of such oblivions, in specific historical circumstances, spring narratives” (Anderson, 1983, p. 204).

Any one kind of reading or interpretation will be grossly inadequate while dealing with such a sensitive issue and this paper does in no way want to preach or put across a one-sided view of the question under discussion. However, the paper wants to highlight the dangers of a lack of understanding and how across North-East India, as Samrat points out, “it will take only a little communal foolishness for a return to the bad old days” (Samrat, 2018a, p.171). Nationalism needs to be rethought and reinvented towards a more inclusive society where the aspirations of the masses are respected, the history of turmoil taken into consideration, where collective self-reflection, telling and re-telling of stories are encouraged. Most importantly, the political and media-hype that create fear-psychosis need to be regulated, systematic brain-washing that incites hatred needs to be avoided and the perspectives of “not only marginalised women but also other vulnerable segments like the indigenous and immigrant populations” (Goswami, 2021, p. 7) need to be heard and considered – where people are allowed to express their opinions without the fear of persecution, attack or marginalisation. Literary representations can help in negotiating different positions and standpoints – of memories, tales of loss, of place, of identities. They can be a means of cross-cultural travel, bringing revisions as well as a cultural revival and harmony.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

References

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Barua, Jahnabi. (2020). Undertow. Penguin.

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Bhatnagar, Gaurav Vivek. (2021). Over 6 lakh Indians Gave Up Citizenship Since 2017: Union Home Ministry. The Wire. thewire.in/government/india-citizenship-relinquished-granted-home-ministry-data-parliament.

Biswas, Ranjita. (2015). “In Search of Peace” in Arupa Patangia Kalita,Written in Tears (Ranjita Biswas, Trans.). Harper Perennial.

Chambers, Iain. (1994). Migrancy, Culture, Identity. Routledge.

Chatterji, Angana P. (In collaboration with Mihir Desai, Harsh Mander, Abdul Kalam Azad). (2021). Breaking Worlds: Religion, Law and Citizenship in Majoritarian India – The Story of Assam. University of California, Berkeley: Political Conflict, Gender and People’s Rights Initiative, Center for Race and Gender.

Choudhury, Amitabha Dev. (2012). Wake Up Call (Subha Prasad Nandi Majumdar, Trans.). In Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee and Dipendu Das (Eds.), Barbed Wire Fence: Stories of Displacement from the Barak Valley of Assam. Niyogi Books.

Choudhury, Arijit. (2012). Fire (Rumi Rani Laskar, Trans.). In Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee and Dipendu Das (Eds.), Barbed Wire Fence: Stories of Displacement from the Barak Valley of Assam. Niyogi Books.

Deb, Siddhartha. (2004). The Point of Return. Picador.

Dey, Moloy Kanti. (2012). Ashraf Ali’s Homeland (Dipendu Das, Trans.). In Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee and Dipendu Das (Eds.), Barbed Wire Fence: Stories of Displacement from the Barak Valley of Assam. Niyogi Books.

Dutta, Nandana. (2012). Questions of Identity in Assam: Location, Migration, Hybridity. Sage.

Ghosh, Partha S. (2016). Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia. Sage.

Ghoshal, Anindita. (2021). Refugees, Borders and Identities: Rights and Habitat in East and Northeast India. Routledge.

Goswami, Uddipana, and Dutta, Abantee(Eds.). (2021). Making Peace Mutually: Perspectives from Assam. Bhabani Books.

Kalita, Arupa Patangia. (2015). Written in Tears (Ranjita Biswas. Trans.). Harper Perennial.

Kar, Bodhisattva. (2011). Can the Postcolonial Begin? Deprovincializing Assam. In Saurabh Dube (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Modernity in South Asia. Oxford University Press.

Kymlicka, Will. (2001). Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship. Oxford University Press.

Minow, Martha. (1998). Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence. Beacon Press.

Samrat. (2018a). How We Got Here: A Brief history of Being Dkhar in Shillong. In Preeti Gill and Samrat (Eds.), Insider Outsider: Belonging and Unbelonging in North-East India. Amaryllis.

Samrat. (2018b). Preface. In Preeti Gill and Samrat (Eds.), Insider Outsider: Belonging and Unbelonging in North-East India. Amaryllis.

Shamshad, Rizwana. (2017).Bangladeshi Migrants in India: Foreigners, Refugees, or Infiltrators? Oxford University Press.

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Dr Rimi Nath is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Her research interests include Indian Writing in English, South Asian Literature, Partition Studies and Diaspora/ Migration Studies. Her research papers have appeared in various journals and also as book chapters – the recent one is from Routledge, in the book Religion in South Asian Anglophone Literature: Traversing Resistance, Margins and Extremism (2022). She has been a member of various review boards of books/ journals. She is also engaged in creative writing and writes poems, haiku and short fiction. Her collection of poetry, Kushiara and Other Poems, was published in June, 2021 (Dhauli Books).

Transgressive Spatialities: Mapping Identity and Liminality in Contemporary Queer Narratives from Assam

Assamese Literature/Gender Studies/North East Literature & Culture/Queer & LGBT/V14N2

1.3K views

Nizara Hazarika

Department of English, Sonapur College, (Gauhati University) Sonapur, Assam. ORCID id:0000-0002-5152-7553. Email id: nhazarika04@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022. Pages: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne24

First published: June 24, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

From Descartes’ cogito to the postmodern fluidity, the notion of identity has acquired newer dimensions. Identity remains an important rhetorical resource for non-heterosexual people. Butler’s notion of gender as performative has been fundamental in this discourse on the queer people who debunk compulsory heterosexuality as a given. An exploration of the spaces that the non-heteronormative people occupy is pertinent to understanding the lived realities of these people. Using the Foucauldian notion of heterotopia, this study tries to understand the liminal and all kinds of alternative spaces that they inhabit which is intense and disruptive. They are also sites of resistance and transgression. In Assamese literature, the heterosexual ideology dominates the hegemonic knowledge production spaces. The non-heteronormative people occupy the spaces in crevices, and peripheries and cannot claim a distinct positionality. Queer narratives from Assam reflect a new direction in this regard. The Narratives under study by Moushumi Kandali, Aruni Kashyap and Panchanan Hazarika present how these narratives from Assam present the lived realities of the queer population and how they explicate the spatial dimension of the same-sex desire, and in the process how they negotiate the ontological authenticity of the non-heteronormative people to form their identity.

Key words: Spatiality, identity, queer, gender fluidity, narrative

With the proliferation of the discourses on identity, the postmodern stance on it as something ‘in flux’, and the Butlerian notion of gendered fluidity and performativity, the queers have emerged with a malleable identity that exists beyond the gendered binary. The term ‘Queer’ has been used as an umbrella term to denote a range of sexual and gender identities that are not “straight” and do not conform to the dominant heterosexual practices. Queer studies emerged as an academic discourse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It brought in a political stand of both solidarity and defiance that challenged the mainstream heterosexual discourses and denied subjugation of the sexual minorities. In the initial years, the term ‘queer’ was used for the lesbian and gay populace; but over the years it has encompassed all the non-heterosexual people who expose and challenge normativity. The term ‘identity’ has been a rhetorical resource for these non-heterosexual people. Through these resources, they evoke some kind of discourse that questions the politics of power and dominance. As ‘queer’, each individual goes through different lived realities. However, recognition of one’s sexuality, coming out and making that sexual identity public, creating a bond with members of a similar community and facing societal pressure are some of the common experiences of the queer people. The queer identity is shaped by histories of rejection, abjection and subjugation by the dominant patriarchal power structure. Being pushed to the periphery, the queers prefer fluid possibilities of gender and sexuality by debunking the false notion of compulsory heterosexuality. They celebrate the fluidity of body and sexuality and challenge the hetero-patriarchal repression. However, the body of the queers becomes a potential site of negation of identity as per the norms imposed by the heterosexist society. Heteronormativity, with its repressive measures, forces the queer people to go through subjugation and exclusion. This in turn traumatises these marginalised people while negotiating their space within a homophobic society. Thus, for the queers, who inhabit outside the binary structure, their identity lies in the liminal space.

The liminal space provides its subjects opportunities to redefine their identity and also to subvert the dominant notions upheld by society. As the identity of the queers is not permeated with socially constructed norms, the liminal space provides them the necessary power to restructure and negotiate their identities. This brings forth the fluidity of the queer identity. Anzaldua (2002) posits, “This liminal space of identity can be ‘unstable, unpredictable, precarious, always-in-transition . . . lacking clear boundaries —the person is in a constant state of displacement” (p.1) Thus, the queer people feel a sense of estrangement when they enter the structured spaces of gendered binary. They navigate their identities and due to this perpetual navigation, a permanent space cannot be realised. However, this movement into new spaces opens up a new epistemological horizon before them that empowers the queers and this new knowledge and power are distinctly their own. But the pertinent question here is, how is a queer space defined? In the words of Ebmeier and Bovermann (2018),

A queer space is any space that enables its occupants to perform queerness. Such a space allows for the visibility of queerness. . . Instead of inverting hierarchies and enacting a reversal of the normative order, these places attempt to negotiate and perform alternatives. (2018, p.288)

Thus, the queer space is engraved by the sexual minorities and it “purportedly enables the visibility of sexual subcultures that resist and rupture the hegemonic heterosexuality that is the source of their marginality and exclusion” (Oswin, 2008, p.90). Giving a new dimension to the spatial discourse on the use of space in society, Foucault introduced his concept of heterotopias. In his 1967 lecture “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”, Foucault described heterotopias as a space both ‘existing’ and ‘non-existing’ that fall between real and utopian spaces. These are spaces that are “othered”, places that are outside and yet connected to all other places. In his The Order of Things (1966), Foucault described heterotopias as discursive, a space thinkable only in language; but in “Of Other Spaces”, heterotopia has been presented as a physical space for bodies to dwell, as “counter sites” such as asylums, prisons, gardens, colonies, cemeteries, brothels and boats. Heterotopias encourage a reordering of the social structure which is an essential counter-hegemonic locus of resistance. Angela Jones (2009), in her essay titled “Queer Heterotopias: Homonormativity and the Future of Queerness” describes,

Queer heterotopias are material spaces where radical practices go unregulated. They are sites where actors, whether academics or activists, engage in what we might call a radical politics of subversion, where individuals attempt to dislocate the normative configurations of sex, gender, and sexuality through daily exploration and experimentation with crafting a queer identity. (p.2)

Thus, the queer heterotopias provide a space for the non-heteronormative individuals to create their own space where they can live, and walk about in an empowered state by being free from all kinds of marginalisation and dominance.

With the emergence of spatial literary studies, scholars have delved into the representation of spaces in the varied zones where fiction meets reality. Queer people have been denied representation and kept out of all kinds of documented space in history and literature. In most mainstream literature and other spaces like films, theatres etc, the queers are deliberately marginalised, made fun of, ridiculed and so on. Thus, these images of the queers dominate the mindset of the people of the heterosexist society. Through her notion of gender performativity, Butler subverts the ontological status of the heteronormative gendered regime and posits that such disciplinary power produces queerness as abnormal. But the pertinent question is what is normal or natural? Who decides what is normal or natural? This kind of idea needs to be addressed when we talk of queer people. And here comes the importance of the queer narratives, where issues on identity, spaces, and lived experiences are addressed. Therefore, an exploration of the spaces that the non-heteronormative people occupy and their literary representation is pertinent to understanding the lived realities of these people. Literature is nuanced and it can explore the complex experiential realities of queers and present the politics behind such experiences. But the point to ponder here is how are the queer spaces projected and reclaimed in the literary texts? Has there been any effort to construct alternative spaces for the queers as they are kept out of the ambit of the binary gendered spaces? To challenge the heteronormative construction of space, literary representation and reclamation of queer spaces are the need of the hour. In mainstream literature, the queer figure in the periphery, in the crevices. The naturalness of the dominant heteronormative discourses could be challenged by queer narratives by making spaces for a newer understanding of gender and sexuality. Queer narratives can bring these intangibilities into the social fabric and spread awareness for a positive change.

In Assamese literature, heterosexual ideology dominates the hegemonic knowledge production of spaces. The nonheteronormative people occupy the spaces in fissures and cannot claim a distinct positionality. Queer narratives from Assam are a timely intervention in this regard. They portray the lived realities of queer people. These narratives reflect a new direction in the process of an all-inclusive society. Thus, a proper study of these narratives is highly warranted. The queer narratives can challenge the heterosexual spatial deployment that is found in the mainstream narratives and prevalent dominant socio-cultural practices of a society. Instead of inverting hierarchies and enacting a reversal of the normative order, these places attempt to negotiate and perform alternatives. These narratives present how some kind of queer space and identity emerges as a site of contestation and resistance with an underlying awareness of divergence. The texts under study are the fictional narratives by Moushumi Kandali, Aruni Kashyap, and Panchanan Hazarika. In these narratives, the narrators project a queer dimension to one’s identity and the spaces that they occupy in society while presenting their experiential realities. The strife for visibility and societal acceptance is a perennial issue for these people living in the interstices of the social structure.

Moushumi Kandali’s story “Tritiyattar Golpo” (A Tale of Thirdness) published in 2007 is one of the finest narratives written with a queer theme. The story has a queer Professor as its protagonist and it narrates the trauma, the societal non-acceptance, the suffering, the loneliness that the protagonist goes through and the struggle he makes to challenge the societal norms and also his embarking on a journey to break the gender stereotype. All these issues are portrayed in a poignant tale where the professor is always attracted to the thirdness. This narrative presents how the queer persona is not accepted by society and is ridiculed, tortured, targeted, sidelined, marginalised and his very private space of a home is invaded. The narrator, narrating the living story, talks of the change in the Professor’s appearance when he internalises homophobia and behaves in a specific way desired by society and his face transforms:

. . . his face would look like the digital conversion of Tutankhamen’s death mask. Was it a face or death-in-wings? Faces change according to variations in context. And we have to wait for life to teach us this simple, common truth, practically known to everybody. (Phukan, 2021, p.284)

Through this facial transformation, the professor exposes the pain and humiliation that the queer folks undergo, and at the same time, it is also a kind of dissent at the overarching patriarchal metanarrative. It reflects how the non-heteronormative people are forced to follow the dictums of society. Butler’s notion of gender performativity, the “stylized repetition of acts”, that must be performed to achieve a particular gender is explored here. Specific socially constructed corporeal acts are to be performed continuously which create a certain gendered identity as per the socio-cultural norms. The Professor’s non-conformity has led to his wearing the metaphorical mask of Tutankhamen. This metaphorical mask of Tutankhamen that the Professor wears is a kind of resistance, a rigid blockage towards the multifarious norms prescribed by the heterosexual society. However, his inner being transformed him into his own self where he prefers to be a woman, a dancer, and a mother. His fluid identity gets reflected when the narrator finds him transformed into a seductress on stage and the narrator exclaims,

I saw a braid flow out of your head, two breasts bloom on your masculine chest, breasts firming in eager anticipation of touch. . . you had generated such an incredible phenomenon- three doors on three sides— on the right, door of the known, on the left, the door of the unknown, and in between, there was another door — the door of perception- you had advanced, slowly, to the third door in the middle- on you walked—oh, that was the first time I had seen you — and on the same day, I had seen two of your faces….. (Phukan, 2021, p.285)

To this, the Professor replied, “One day you will see my third face”. This makes the narrator question his obsession with “thirdness”:

Third! Third again! Third —third— third— why was he so obsessed with the third number — the number three? He preferred a hotel room with the number 3. He was fond of cubism. His favourite story was “The Third Bank of the River”. Shivas’s third eye. The three dimensional representation — the reality of the third world. . . (Phukan, 2021, p. 285)

Thus, the professor’s fluid self, transcending the societal space to a third space, is an act of transgression where he could perform his fluid gender. Chris Jenks has defined transgression as “ to go beyond the bounds or limits set by commandment or law or convention, it is to violate or infringe…[a] reflexive act of denial and affirmation” (2003, p.2). Transgression, for the queers, is an act of challenging the heterosexual power structure and at the same time, reclaiming their own space. It is also a liminal space that encourages fundamental reordering.

Professing gender fluidity, the text critiques the stereotypical notions of gendered identity as per the patriarchal norms. The very notion of motherhood has been questioned. To be a mother, one does not need to be a woman. As the narrator opines,

Oh, how uselessly are we trapped in our stereotyped definitions— we think motherhood is only for women. But motherhood is only a concept— who says it is defined by gender, physicality? One does not require a womb to be a mother—all one needs is a womb of sensitivity and emotion. That is why that scrap of life sleeps in his lap—born to him—Mahadevi grows in his womb of emotion. (Phukan, 2021, p.289)

Here, the narrator projects mothering as an alternative to the oppressive institution of patriarchy. An intervention into the institution of motherhood needs to begin by questioning the very categories of experience and power (Kawash, 2011, p 979). Thus, the professor’s desire to conceive Akka Mahadevi and to have her as his child is fulfilled, albeit metaphorically. And the last lines give the story its ultimate thrust,

One day, one day Mahadevi will tell the people around her–pour her heart out to the trees and earth and wind– “You see that man–sailing away in the boat in solitude on those deep water–he is my mother…. (Phukan, 2021, p.290)

The story tries to bring forth the very notion of gender fluidity and that through their performativity they can claim their own identity. Following Enders, Angella Okawa (2015) opines:

In a world that prefers binary identity, those whose identity lives in this in between space feel pressure to claim one end of polarity and reject the other. Rather than being a transitional space, the liminal is, for these individuals, a permanent home. (p.3)

Thus, the metaphor of sailing through the river towards the third bank is the protagonist’s journey to the queer space that is an emancipated, alternative space where the hegemonic heterosexist discourses cease to regulate bodies and identities. This is a queer heterotopia where individuals can explore and experiment with their desires. The boat, for Foucault, is the quintessential heterotopia as it is in a mobile state, it is real yet ephemeral and beyond surveillance. As Foucault (1986) postulates,

Boat is a floating piece of space, a place without a place, that exists by itself, that is closed in on itself and at the same time is given over to the infinity of the sea. . . The boat has been for our civilization the greatest reserve of the imagination. (p. 27)

Thus, Foucault indicates that heterotopia has the potential to generate alternatives to the existing spaces that regulate the societal structure. Only within the heterotopic space of the boat, the Professor can experience the imagined departure and the thrill of sailing away. Here, solitude is overlapped with a sense of companionship and the present becomes heterochronous with a projected future.

Aruni Kashyap’s story “His Father’s Disease” (2019) narrates the tale of Anil, a gay persona who lives with his mother when the insurgency problems were at its height in Assam. At the beginning of the story, Anil is shown as indulging in a sexual union with his partner and when his mother Neerumoni comes to know about his gay identity, she could not accept it. She wept and thought that ‘he has acquired his father’s disease’. (p.118) She was a witness to this kind of gay sexual encounter of her bisexual husband Horokanto with her own brother Nilambor. Thus, she relates Anil’s gay sexual orientation to her husband’s bisexuality and opines that it is a disease. This is a common negative belief against the people of the queer community that affects their mental health to the extent that they isolate themselves and live within the closeted space. Anil’s construction of an outhouse for himself is some kind of architectural space, a heterotopia, that the queer people inhabit which is an intimate, comfortable space. Any kind of discrimination like homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, etc. is prohibited there. This is what Foucault talks of when he postulates that there is a transition from ‘heterotopia of crisis’ to ‘heterotopia of deviation’. (1986, p.25) Anil goes through a crisis situation within his home space where his mother nags him continuously and he finds the home space constricted and traumatised. Thus, he moves to the outhouse which stands for the heterotopia of deviation. The closeted space of the outhouse is an emancipated space for Anil. Home could be a place where they experience homophobia and this is evident when his mother does not accept his gay identity. Thus, this kind of narrative exposes the myth of a safe home. The queers experience the home space as a place of surveillance and discipline. Anil faces a dual paradigm, where he is familiar and close to the centre of power when he is politically involved and is going to be the future village headman. On the other hand, he is made to feel that he does not belong to the mainstream because of his sexual orientation. His gay identity has been exposed and made a weapon to force his absence within the public space. In the depiction of this queer space, the story explores the erotic dynamics, its potential for grappling with the mainstream spaces and the consequent liminality. Anil’s sexual relation with Promod, the effeminate young man and Anil’s sex partner, exhibits this erotic dynamics within the space of the outhouse. Again, Anil’s sexual experiences with Gurmail project his encounter with the mainstream space. The final burning of the outhouse and Anil’s suicide delineate the outhouse as a liminal space that is not fixed and a temporary abode. Anil carves a space for transaction in the context of his homoerotic desire played out within the enclosed locus of the outhouse. The outhouse becomes a metaphoric representation of the sexually hierarchized home space.

Anil’s straddling within these spaces makes his identity contingent, unfixed, and yet “there”. This societal non-acceptance comes in the way of the queer populace while they claim their queer identity. They feel alienated and strive for a positionality as they inhabit in the interstices. In the words of Shinsuke Eguchi (2011):

Prior to coming out, individuals must have access to information about homosexuality and gay identity. The social stigmatization of homosexuality is a barrier for individuals in the process of adopting homosexuality as a way of life. (p. 40)

This social stigmatisation makes Anil hide his gay identity and he builds the outhouse as a space for liberation. This could be a strategy of resilience too at his disposal to cope with the challenge of heteronormativity and the social stigma attached to his gay identity. Though Anil never told his mother about his physical needs, towards the end he told her about it:

He had built that house to carve a space of his own. It had implicitly told his mother what his ‘male needs’ were. And now, in front of the burning house, he was telling her that he loved Gurmail. (2019, p.131)

Anil saw his mother howling and mumbling something he did not understand and at that spur of the moment he went inside the burning house and neighbours woke up to an unusual smell of burnt human flesh. This suicide or annihilation of the self under societal pressure is a sad yet harsh reality among the queers. Rod Cover (2012), citing the research carried out by various agencies like, Queer activist and medical professionals, opines that they

effectively re-figured sexuality-related suicide as a social fact in Durkheim’s terms by suggesting that social intolerance and homophobia were internalised, thereby leading to self-hatred and self-destructiveness . . . It brought an epistemic shift of opinion from the idea that homosexuality was essentially abnormal, instead introducing the ways in which a number of factors were causal in the suicides of gay men, including shame resulting from blackmail and exposure, pressures around coming out and closetedness, isolation and ostracism” (p. 38)

Thus, Anil’s suicide is a result of the social stigma associated with his gay identity. His revelation to his mother, who, as a representative of the heterosexual social structure, is never ready to accept his gay identity, and finally the burning down of the outhouse, an alternate space of all kinds of possibilities and experimentations. The outhouse is not a discursive site. Rather it is a physical one, a space both integral to and removed from the social order. And its demolition has crushed all his wishes to have his own space and his identity.

Anil’s disinterest in the election process and his constant fear of being killed made him stay within the house. Through this rejection of his entering into the pubic space, Anil addresses his liminality and challenges the propriety of the dominant social order. All the traumatising experiences like Anil’s imprisonment, and the attack on his life, have a deep impact on his interior landscape. And he enters into a heterotopia of crisis. His suicide might be termed as a heterotopia of deviation where he embarks on a journey beyond life and all kinds of bindings. Thus, in a way, his death is a way of resistance too. Anil chooses to resort to a radical way of subversion of the dominant and in the process, he kills himself.

Panchanan Hazarika’s short story collection Andharotkoi Udaax Botahotkoi Swadhin (Depressed than darkness, liberated than the wind) has several stories that portray the experiential realities of queer people. He tries to expose the societal pressure, stigma, violence inflicted on the queers, the politics of exclusion, loneliness, rejection that the queer people experience. In “Sironton”, he shows how Violina, a Lesbian girl is not accepted by her peers. Being students of Gender Studies, researching 3^rd Wave Feminism, these friends yet cannot accept her. This exposes the hypocrisy of heterosexual society. Queer people have to face the politics of exclusion and cannot claim an equal space in the mainstream discourses. Their visibility is ridiculed and thus critics have vouched for a shift of the politics of visibility to the politics of recognition which acknowledges identity on the basis of gender, sexuality, and other markers.

Hazarika’s story “Joloj Jibon” (Fluid Life) presents the fluidity of one’s identity. The narrator speaks about his fluid existence, the multiple selves that we carry within us, the body’s needs and desires, and his search for the truth of life. He feels he floats in these nuanced paradigms. When his friend says that not being able to publicly express one’s sexuality could also be a reason for committing suicide, he protests. And then he longs for a living river where his fluid life could clasp him. The water body is represented as an alternative space that both forms and challenges the protagonist’s sense of identity and belongingness. Thus, the space that he longs for is a queer space that would provide him solace as it might be a safe refuge to explore his sexuality and fluid identity. This space is an indefinable space, a temporary and yet fluctuating zone governed by lawless forces, where the protagonist can be in his elements. This kind of performance reveals a kind of convergence of spatial and fluid identity formation.

The title story from the collection Andharotkoi Udaax Botahotkoi Swadhin(2020) narrates the story of Chandrabala, the educated, progressive mother and her three children, Uddipta, Lopa, and Ujjiban. The mother is very much involved in her children’s lives and she tries to help them solve their problems, and takes their side when they face any problem from their father or society at large. But when she comes to know about her son Ujjiban’s sexuality, who declares that he is gay, it was like a storm for her. She had to go through many phases of tests and tribulations. The mother introspects:

Ujjibon is attracted only towards men— she possesses the required sensitivity and awareness to accept this truth. But Ujjiban is not a character from a story or a film. He is her son, the son of her own flesh and blood. He is the son of her and Uttam’s. (2020, p. 90)

Ujjiban’s gay identity is evident in his gait and his behaviour. He is ridiculed by his friends and teachers at school. The public space of school does not provide him with a sense of belongingness. Even, the home space is not conducive for him. Uttam, his father curses him and commands him, “to behave like a boy as he is born a boy”. Thus, Uddipan was bereft of any comforting space where he could perform his sexuality. He always lives within the restrictive, disciplinary space. But his association with the Art teacher provides him with a liberated space, where he can come out of his shell and become his own self. As his mother states,

Uddipan became very close to this man who is double his age. She found it surprising. Yet, Debaparasad, the Art teacher could bring him out of the cocoon of loneliness-depression-self-absorption. And she is ever grateful to him. (2020, p. 92)

Thus, Uddipan’s experience in the metro city of Delhi gives him the much-required space of freedom and his whole personality undergoes a transformation. From a naive individual, he becomes self-reliant and courageous. He has understood the heterosexual power politics and he realises that his gay identity is as natural as any other gendered identity. This socially constructed notion of heterosexuality is critiqued by Binnie (1997) and she postulates: “Space is not naturally authentically “straight”, but rather actively produced and (hetero) sexualised.” (p.223)

The very notion of inclusion and acceptance is something that queer people are denied by society. As they do not conform to heteropatriarchal norms, they are singled out and positioned in the margins. These liminal spaces could be re-appropriated and restructured by creating a space where the queers can perform their sexuality and gender. The experiences of Urban Delhi provide Ujjiban with the required acceptance and space and he comes out of his closeted space and declares his sexuality even to his mother. This creation of a heterotopia helps the queers force the heteronormative society to recognise the queer bodies and sexualities as viable on their own terms. And Ujjiban’s mother accepts his sexuality with élan. She tells him:

Ujjiban! I belong to a different era. You belong to a new era. But who will understand you if not me? I am your mother…. Is there anything that a mother does not understand? However free, rebellious emancipated a time could be, is not the time born out of a womb of old time? Doesn’t the hand holding the progressive light that herald the new time born from the darkness of the womb? (2020, p. 94)

And Chandrabala shivers with a yearning to be free from the clutch of the age-old conventions and a love for the future where there will be equality of sexes. In this kind of social change, a change of mindset of people is needed. Social change occurs slowly. Literature can play a pivotal role by bringing awareness and arousing empathy and sensitivity among people. These existential realities bring forth the nuances of the lives of the queer people and we can envision that a day will come which will open up a new vista where people belonging to all sexualities bask under the same sky.

The spatial deployment of the queer people within the framework of mainstream society has changed its trajectory in the contemporary discourses on queer studies. Scholars have come up with new perspectives on the notions of queer identity and space. Kath Browne (2006) argues that queer is more than the LGBT population and it ought to consider how queer can be something other than “an overarching term that describes sexual ‘dissidents’” (p. 886). Brown postulates that the ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ spaces normally do not transgress the normative sexual identity politics. It should extend the norm and not transgress or challenge it. Thus, by queer Brown means “operating beyond powers and controls that enforce normativity”. (p. 889). She goes on to state that queer inquiries should question the ideals of inclusion and “entail radical (re)thinkings, (re)drawings, (re)conceptualisations, (re)mappings that could (re)make bodies, spaces, and geographies” (p. 888). Thus, Brown opines that queer geographies should transgress boundaries such as hetero/homo, man/woman in order to go beyond normativity that will render space fluid. This fluid notion of space would surely be a harbinger of a new world order where the dominant power structure would cease to operate and a new dawn will usher in where the queers will have their own subjectivities. The spaces that they occupy will transgress all prevalent spatial boundaries and provide them with the identities that they envision in the days to come.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

References and Work Cited:

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Binnie, J. (1997). “Coming out of geography: Towards a queer epistemology”. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space,15. Pp.223-237.

Biswas, D. (2021). “Contesting homogeneity: Stereotypes and heteronormativity in Aruni Kashyap’s His Father’s Disease. English: Journal of the English Association. (pp.1–22). doi: 10.1093/english/efab007

Browne, K. (2006). “Challenging queer geographies”. Antipode 38, pp 885-893.

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.

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Deka, M. (2021). Queerscape. NEthing.

Ebmeier, K and C. Bovermann. (2018) “‘It’s a space shuttle!’ Opening up queer spaces through the performing arts”. In Olson Gretta et al. (Eds), Beyond gender: An advanced introduction to futures of feminist and sexuality studies. (pp. 277-290). Routledge.

Foucault, M. (1986). “Of other spaces”. [trans. Jay Miskowiec]. Diacritics, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1986), pp.22-27.

—. (2001). The order of things (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Hazarika, P. (2020). Andharotkoi udax botahotkoi swadhin. B R Book Stall.

Hones, S. (2018). “Literary geography and spatial literary studies”. Literary Geographies, Vol. 4, No. 2 pp. 146-149

Jenks, C. (2003). Transgression, Routledge.

Jones, A. (Sept.2009). “Queer heterotopias: Homonormativity and the future of queerness. Interalia. (pp 1-20) DOI: 10.51897/interalia/PQBF4543.

Kandali, M. (2007). Trittiyattar galpa in M Kandali (author) Trittiyattar galpa: A collection of short stories. Lawyer’s Book Stall.

Kashyap, A. (2019). “His Father’s Disease” in A Kashyap (author). His Father’s Disease: Stories. (pp. 118-131).

Kawash, Samira. “New Directions in the Motherhood Studies”. Signs, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Summer 2011), pp. 969-1003.

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Phukan, M. (Ed), (2021). The greatest Assamese stories ever told. Aleph Book Company.

Shinsuke E. (2011). “Negotiating sissyphobia: A critical/interpretive analysis of one “femme” gay Asian body in the heteronormative world”. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 19.1, pp. 37–56.,

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Nizara Hazarika is an Associate Professor at the Post Graduate Department of English in Sonapur College, (Gauhati University) Assam. She did her PhD on Colonial Assam and Women’s Writing’from English and Foreign Languages University, (EFLU) Hyderabad. She is the author of the book Colonial Assam and Women’s Writing. She has also edited several books on women writing and English language teaching. She was a recipient of a Fellowship by the US Department of State in 2013, UGC travel grants to participate in IAFOR International Conference at Osaka, Japan in 2013, and in the Fifteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities for a Knowledge Society” at Imperial College, London in 2017.

Navakanta Barua’s Posthuman Wonderland in Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur

Assamese Literature/Children's Literature/North East Literature & Culture/Postmodern

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Himaxee Bordoloi¹ & Rohini Mokashi²
¹Assistant Professor in Darrang College, under Gauhati University, India. ORCID id: 0000-0001-6962-205. Email: sarmahdaisy04@gmail.com
²IIT Guwahati, Assam, India. ORCID id: 000-0001-8381-3469. Email id: rohini@iitg.ac.in

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022. Pages: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne23

First published: June 24, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

In the wake of the emerging body of scholarship on Posthumanism and Animality studies, the borderline between the human and the ‘non-human’ has been ‘thoroughly breached’. Interestingly, one of the key areas where the boundaries between the human and the animal are problematized is the field of children’s literature. Children’s literature has the potential to radically challenge the anthropocentric worldview of Man as an ‘exceptional’ being by deploying a playful, but subversive logic. The paper attempts to examine how Navakanta Barua deploys nonsense and fantasy in his novella, Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur to challenge this very prospect of human supremacy as opposed to the non-human ‘other’. The paper also seeks to examine how the fantastic encounters between Barua’s child-protagonist and the mysterious non-human entities challenge the centrality and superiority of the ‘human’, and, in doing so, how the text draws attention to the complexities of our lived relations with non-human others.

Key Words: Posthumanism, Non-human, Animality, Children’s Literature.

Introduction: The Posthumanist Turn.

One of the crucial ‘boundary breakdowns’, which Donna Haraway (1985) mentions in her significant manifesto, A Cyborg Manifesto, is the borderline between humans and animals. As Haraway (1985) proposes, “by the late twentieth century in United States scientific culture, the boundary between human and animal is thoroughly breached (p. 68). Haraway’s path-breaking Manifesto opens up new avenues to revisit humanity’s relationships with non-human ‘other’ as it undercuts the long-established, ‘absolutist’ discourse of humanism. For a long time, the Biblical discourse of the ‘origin myths’ has legitimatized the human-animal divide. Citing William Henderson, Tom Tyler (2020), in The Palgrave Handbook of Animals and Literature emphasizes how human exceptionalism had its roots in the Biblical teachings. To put in Henderson’s words,

“Biblical teaching is […] anthropocentric, so far as the world is concerned, the true centre of it being, not earth so much as man. The sun, physical centre of the system as he may be, shines for our sakes: the moon walks the night in our interest: the stars are there for our use. From the Biblical point of view, everything turns round the earth as the habitation of human spirit” (Tyler, 2020, p. 17).

This anthropocentric world-view was further aggravated by the “enlightenment trajectory of humanist essentialism” (Huggan, Tiffin, 2010, p. 151) which naturalizes man as the measure of all things. However, in the wake of the emerging body of scholarships on posthumanism and animal studies, the central position of man as an ‘exceptional’ being is often questioned. Posthumanism, as a philosophical stance, therefore, attempts to unseat the supreme position of man. This view of Posthumanism is highlighted by Neil Badmington (2012) in his entry on “posthumanism” in The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science:

Posthumanism, by way of contrast, emerges from a recognition that “Man” is not the privileged and protected center, because humans are no longer – and perhaps never were – utterly distinct from animals, machines, and other forms of the “inhuman”; are the products of historical and cultural differences that invalidate any appeal to a universal, transhistorical human essence; are constituted as subjects by a linguistic system that pre-exists and transcends them; and are unable to direct the course of world history towards a uniquely human goal. In short, posthumanism arises from the theoretical and practical inadequacy – or even impossibility – of humanism (p. 374).

Posthumanism, as a philosophical inquiry, thus, to put in the words of Hayles (1999) “evokes the exhilarating prospect of getting out of some of the old boxes and opening up new ways of thinking about what being human means” (p. 285). However, Hayles also warns that the radical ways of thinking about humanity can be as much ‘frightening as liberating’ (p.285). Posthumanist discourse in this regard can be broadly classified into two parts: transhumanism or ‘an intensification of humanism’ (Wolfe, 2009, p. xv) and critical posthumanism. While the above strand of posthumanism is concerned with the ‘techno-modifications’ of the human, critical posthumanism attempts to examine humans “as an instantiation of a network of connections, exchanges, linkages and crossings with all forms of life” (Nayar, 2013, p. 5). One of the key formulations of critical posthumanism is destabilizing speciesist humanism or what Haraway (1985) points to as the ‘human/animal divide’. The need to examine posthumanism from a ‘companion species’ (Haraway, 2008) framework instead of a technological approach is urged by critics like Zoe Jacques (2015) who states that “posthumanism requires neither the robots nor machines of recent history, but philosophers, writers, and thinkers who are willing to question what it means to be humans and how humans should relate to the wider world” (p. 6).

Children’s Literature and the animal-human boundary.

One of the key spaces where the boundaries between the human and the animal are often problematized is the realm of children’s fantasy. Mice being adopted as a little brother (Stuart Little), animals seeking advice from human doctors (Doctor Dolittle), cats wearing hats (The Cat in the Hat), monsters trying to graduate from university (Monsters University), all of these seemingly impossible tasks, however, operate “beyond the limitations of ontology” (Jacques, 2015, p. 3). In other words, children’s fantasy has the potential to radically destabilize hierarchies of being, which might seem unfeasible in a realistic setting. Zoe Jacques, in this regard, offers interesting insights into children’s fiction by examining the genre from a Posthumanist lens. As Jacques (2018) maintains, “by imagining ‘being’ as operating beyond bodily or environmental constraint, children’s fiction, in its attempt to address young readers, can offer sophisticated interventions into debates about what it means to be human or non-human and offer ethical imaginings of a ‘posthuman; world” (p. 5). A similar view is echoed by Amy Ratelle (2015) as she argues that “literature geared toward a child audience reflects and contributes to the cultural tensions created by the oscillation between upholding and undermining the divisions between the human and the animals” (p. 4). Ratelle’s book thus takes a posthumanist stand to examining animals as subjects, and the ways in which children’s literature and culture “present the boundary between humans and animals, as, at best permeable and in a state of continual flux” (Ratelle, 2015, p. 4). The blurring of boundaries between humans and animals is, however, more permissible in children’s fantasy as opposed to realistic fiction about animals. Realistic fiction about animals often highlights the heroic sacrifices, sufferings, and pain of animals, thereby relegating animals as mere objects of human sympathy. Realistic fiction in this regard generates what Sumana Roy (2020) terms ‘public guilt’. As Roy notes in her article “Guilt Lit”, “we are living in the age of public guilt. So, the literature we consume bears its own ‘privilege footprints’. We now approach literature with the expectation that we will feel guilty, will be reminded of our privilege (Roy, 2020). Fantasy works about animals, on the other hand, give voice to animals. Fantasy books about animals provide space for imagining the inner lives of animals and, it endows animals “with language capabilities to express their thoughts and feelings” (Elick, 2015, p. 6). Instead of focusing on the utilitarian or tokenistic approach, modern children’s fantasy novels, in the words of Catherine Elick, “run counter to works of animal realism by overwriting animals’ vulnerabilities and instead showing them capable of unbalancing human hierarchies and enjoying equitable relationships with people” (2015, p. 6). However, this ‘equitable relationship’ is further enhanced through the use of anthropomorphism in children’s literature. Having said that, it cannot be denied that anthropomorphism for a long time has been instrumental in disseminating ‘human values’ to children. As Catherine Elick (2015) opines, “modern fantasy espouses anthropomorphism for the very purpose of combating the anthropocentrism that subscribes to a utilitarian scale of value for animals and sees them merely as signifiers of humanity’s maturity or tests of human morality, not agents in their own right” (p. 6) Thus, keeping Elick’s statement in view, it can be possibly argued that anthropomorphism may not necessarily be anthropocentric. On the other hand, it can be a liberating aspect when viewed from the perspective of animal studies.

Drawing on the insightful concepts of ‘posthumanism’ and ‘animality studies’ the present paper attempts to examine how anthropomorphism in select Assamese children’s fantasy combats what Cary Wolf (2003) terms “the institution of speciesism”. (p. 7).

‘Animality’ in Assamese fantasy literature for children.

As in most cultures across the world, talking animals have always been a part of Assamese literature and culture. The Omolageet, (lullabies) which enriched the treasure house of Assamese children’s literature features animal characters with extraordinary facilities. For instance, ‘moruwa phool’ (imaginary flower) blooms on the head of the fox, cranes offer ‘white dots’ to children on their way to the assembly, the moon provides a needle to the child to stitch bags, the sparrow cuts betelnut in the wedding ceremony of the tail-less vixen, etc. All these fantastic tasks, obviously unreal to the adult mind, enliven the child’s mind with curiosity and imagination. The fantastic elements, however, pervade not only oral tales and stories but are very much a part of the works of later writers of children’s literature. Apart from Lakshminath Bezbaroa, various writers such as Navakanta Barua, Atul Chandra Hazarika, Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi, Toshoprabha Kalita, and Gagan Chandra Adhikary have used mysterious animals in their works to intrigue the imagination of the readers. Strikingly, the animal characters of the afore-mentioned writers do not act as mediators or substitutes for/of human beings; they are subjects in their own rights. Their works highlight the significance of the inter-species bond, which is particularly relevant in the present times of massive, ecologically disruptive, change. In this regard, it is imperative to mention Navakanta Barua whose eco-centric vision is discernible not only in his poems but also in other writings meant for children. The present paper attempts to analyse Barua’s novella Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur through a posthumanist lens, in order to see how he challenges a humanist framework and draws attention to the need for a ‘companion species’ framework.

Navakanta Barua’s Eco-centric vision

In the Preface to his novella, Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur, Navakanta Barua acknowledges how he was inspired by Lewis Carroll and Sukumar Rai to produce a similar ‘moral free’ book for children. As Barua notes, “as you grow up and read the stories of Lewis Carroll and Sukumar Rai, you will find certain similarities between their works and mine. Perhaps, those are the best works anyone could ever read… On the one side are those writers, and, you (children) are on the other side. What lies between the two extremes are my ‘creations’” (Adhikari, p. 118). Redressing the problems of didactics, Barua further asserts that, “the stories of Brother Grimm are wonderful – just like Grandma’s tales; the moral values of Panchatantra and Aesop are also invaluable, but somehow you (children) do not appear to be there. In fact, we (adults) do not have the right to impose our inflexible judgments on children” (Adhikari, 2003, 118). The Preface clarifies the point that Navakanta Barua was influenced by the nonsense genre of literary tradition, and particularly by the works of Carroll for its subversive potential. As Linda M Shires (1988) suggests, “fantasy, nonsense and parody each question the status of the real in a different, and differently disturbing way, pushing language and meaning toward dangerous limits of dissolution… however, what is at stake- whether in the unreal of fantasy, or the non-real of nonsense – is ourselves” (p. 267-268). Extending Shires’ remark a little further, from ‘ourselves’ to ‘ourselves’ – as superior human beings, it can be argued that Navakanta Barua deploys nonsense and fantasy in his novella, Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur to challenge this very prospect of human supremacy as opposed to animal inferiority. Barua’s interest in animal rights and animal welfare is evident in his poems, articles, and other works, where he talks about the estranged relationship between humans and animals. One such poem is “Dekhiyapotia Baghor Gaan” (The Leopard’s song) where the Leopard questions the unjust killings of animals by humans, and requests human beings to restore their rightful home — the forest to it:

Haw maw khau

Moitu manuh nakhau

Prokritiye dise muk poxu aaronyir

Taakey khai jibon kotau (Adhikar, p. 245).

Haw mau khau

I don’t need to eat humans

Nature provides me with beasts from the forest,

Whom I relish and cling to life (End note).

In another poem, Goror Gaan (The Rhinoceros’s Song), the Rhino poses a similar question to humanity through its song:

Mur kopalot edale xing

Tumaluke bula sorgo!

Seiyai je mathun prokritiye diya

Aatmoroikhar astro !

Tat jadu ni oouxod ni

Nai bhut kheda montra

Anebur misa kothat kiyonu

Nakhisa jivan mur! (Adhikari, p. 250)

Navakanta Barua, through the voice of the Rhinoceros, poignantly tells human beings how they are poached for the single horn they possess. The Rhino explains through its song that its horn does not have any medicinal value, nor does it possess any supernatural power. It is merely an instrument of self-defence, bestowed by nature to the animal. Human beings, therefore should not kill it for their selfish motives. Barua’s deep concern for animals and the environment finds expression in his works such as Hey Aranya hey Mahanagar, Kramasha Eti Xadhukatha, Eyat Nodi Asil, etc. apart from the children’s poems discussed above. However, in his nonsense fiction, Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur, Barua seeks to erase the boundaries between humans and animals by deploying a playful but subversive logic.

The discussion on the theoretical aspects of posthumanism and animality studies makes it understandable that the ‘animal’, for a long time, has occupied a peripheral position as opposed to its counterpart – the human. As Derrida (2008) notes in his essay “The Animal That Therefore I am”, “the animal is a word, it is an appellation that men have instituted, a name they have given themselves the right an[i]d the authority to give to another living creature” (p. 392). However, despite the linguistic complexities involved, the word ‘animal’, according to Erica Fudge (2002) has some transformative power, insofar as it draws attention to the complexities of our lived relations with non-human others. In the light of Fudge’s remark, this paper seeks to explore how the fantastic encounters between the child-protagonist Joon and the mysterious animals challenge the centrality and superiority of the ‘human’.

Powerful or Vulnerable?

One of the prime reasons for human beings to justify their domination over ‘animals’ is ‘rationality’, ‘intellectual power’, and/or physical strength. In Navakanta Barua’s Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur, however, the child protagonist in his fantastic journey, encounters ‘strange creatures’ – beasts, birds, talking-roads, moon, etc, who challenge those very notions of human authority/power. As the story begins the child protagonist embarks on his journey to Ratanpur, the fictional place he comes across in his grandmother’s tales. The very fact that Joon wants to visit a fictional place sets the fantastic tone of the story. At the very outset, Joon encounters a crossroad where ten intersecting roads beckon him. Strangely enough, all the roads can talk multiple languages, and they all lure Joon, each outdoing the other in enticing him. By giving voice to inanimate objects as roads, Navakanta Barua does something more than an anthropomorphic appropriation: he challenges the very premise based upon which humanity has always denied subjecthood to ‘animals’- the ability to speak (Derrida, 2008, p. 379). The superior position of humans is further challenged as the story progresses. Upon taking a least travelled road, Joon encounters a kite, which was carrying a bamboo net (saloni), with two wrestlers on it. As there was no audience to watch their game, the wrestlers come across a fisher-woman, who promises a chonda fish to the one who loses the game. Soon after the wrestlers were carried off by the kite, Joon was also taken off by the same kite, and he could see that the wrestlers were not wrestling, as the game was designed to have no winners. In the hope of getting a chonda fish, each of the wrestlers gets up, pretends to fight, and falls. Finding the whole situation very absurd, Joon reminds them that they were far away from getting any reward since they were already being carried off by a kite. The wrestlers, then, tell Joon that it is not any ordinary kite, but must be a Brahminy Kite (Ganga Siloni), and, terrified, both of them jump off the bamboo. Generally, wrestlers are known for their physical strength and agility. However, the fact that these two wrestlers were carried off by a bird undermines the superiority of human beings as physically powerful over vulnerable beings. Furthermore, upon realizing that they were in the grasp of a bird, the wrestlers assumed the bird to be an extraordinary one, and, terrified, they jumped off the flying saloni in the sky. What is interesting in the above episode is the fact that more than Joon, it is the wrestlers who were terrified of the bird. It was only after the wrestlers jumped off the net, that Joon was actually scared of the bird. The kite, though a bird, is projected as much more powerful than the strongest human beings. It is not just Joon – a child, who was scared of a ‘tiny’ bird. But, in Navakanta Barua’s wonderland, even the strongest humans, such as the wrestlers are rendered powerless against vulnerable animals.

Erudite ‘animals, dumb-headed humans

So far as rationality or ‘intellectual power’ is concerned, the novella presents events that challenge this assumption. The right of animals to knowledge and erudition becomes key to unsettling the human-animal divide. In one instance, Joon encounters an ant with a waistcoat, like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Interestingly enough, the ant has knowledge of geography, and its rather obscure questions frustrate Joon:

Do you know that the earth is round?

Yes, it moves around the sun.

And?

And it moves on its axis?

What is the axis?

As if I don’t know, it means the spinal cord.

Does the earth have a vertebral cord?

It is visible on the map, not in reality.

Very good! Ten out of ten (Adhikari, 2003, p.127).

The above conversation highlights how Joon was being tested and evaluated by the ant. Joon’s position as a superior human being with regard to knowledge is constantly undermined through his conversations with the ant. At times, Joon finds it so annoying that he vents his anger by saying that: “you don’t act too smart like my teacher Nityananda sir. You are being too arrogant” (Adhikari, 2003, p. 126). Joon’s act of comparing the ant with authoritarian figures like elders equates the child/adult binary with the animal/human binary. Joon is wary of authoritarian figures like his teacher who always questions the children and imposes his authority upon them. The ant’s rather intelligent questions pose a similar threat to Joon’s sense of stability as a human. The fact that an insect of the smallest kind could know so much more is very disturbing to him. However, as the story unfolds, Joon’s attempt to re-instate his superior position is further undermined through his conversation with other animals. His exchange with the stork is one such instance where Joon’s presumed rationality is challenged through the bird’s rather ‘absurd’ statements. The fact that Barua imbues nonhuman creatures with more rationality is evident, as Joon assumes that the bird is familiar with all locations and places. Joon’s conversation with the stork leaves him in a state of utter perplexity as he couldn’t make sense of the bird’s ‘irrational’ statements:

Let’s sleep, okay! Sleep off! The fox has to catch its prey.

No… I am not at all sleepy, I won’t sleep.

Ai o dehi! Don’t worry! Everything will be alright! Let us share the sleep.

Can anyone share sleep? …

Who says no? You don’t know anything (Adhikari, 2003, p. 131).

The Stork’s remark utterly frustrates and annoys Joon as he feels dumb-headed. Interestingly, the stork doesn’t just make some blind statements but goes further to elucidate how sleep can be shared with proper examples from mathematics (bhognasor anko). Although the stork does not produce any ‘reasoned argument’ from Joon’s perspective, it seems perfectly rational when seen in terms of the logic which Navakanta Barua sets up in the story. What appears absurd to Joon, is ‘rationality’ as and when it is expressed through the voice of the stork. In another instance, when Joon meets an old man and his dog from an old tale, the anthropocentric distinction of man as the sole possessor of language is subverted. It becomes evident as the dog assumes Joon to be a gorilla and asks him, “Gorilla, Gorilla, where is your tail?” (Adhikari, 2003, p. 138). Joon’s angry and fearful response to the dog that “I am not a Gorilla, and I do not have a tail either” (138) shows his anxiety and frustration for being ridiculed by a ‘nonhuman other’. The dog, then, offers a handkerchief to Joon with the picture of a Gorilla and asks him if Joon is not a gorilla. To this Joon replies rather bluntly, “this is not a mirror, but a handkerchief, and, I am not a Gorilla” (Adhikari, 2003, p.139). The dog’s assumption seems incorrect to Joon from an anthropocentric viewpoint, which considers human language as one of the necessary means to access ‘reality.’ However, by giving room to a multiplicity of voices (languages) such as that of the ant, the stork, the dog, and other ‘fantastical creatures’ in the story, Barua attempts to upset the presumed rationality of human beings in the text.

The value of reason is continuously subverted as the story unfolds. Joon’s act of seeking meaning in rationality is constantly undermined through the deployment of nonsense in the text. Upon reaching Ratanpur, Joon meets the erudite fox who challenges him through a series of nonsensical word games. Joon, however, fails repeatedly and is embarrassed by these failures. The fox, by repeatedly testing Joon on the basis of nonsense prosody, not only provides an insight into how things work in the wonderland, but also challenges the humanist notion of language as a marker of ‘rationality’. Joon’s encounters with these intelligent animals, therefore, challenge humanity’s belief in ‘rational superiority’ and subvert the naturalized assumption of human domination over other animals.

Bridging the species divide

One of the interesting facts about Barua’s novella Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur is that the child-protagonist, Joon, is accompanied either by some non-human animals or inanimate objects throughout his journey. Joon’s fantastic encounters with different creatures, therefore, offer provocative ways to think of Haraway’s idea of “companion species” in more compelling ways. There are many instances where the human-animal “intra-action” (Haraway, 2003) finds expression in the novella. Joon’s first thought upon seeing the ten talking-cross-roads was to meet the vixen:

Shall I reach Aaita’s story’s Ratanpur?

Sigh! Had I met the vixen, I would have asked her.

One is scared of the vixen only at night, not during days (Adhikari, 2003, p.120).

Joon’s statements ostensibly show how the narrative seeks to erase the incommensurable difference between humans and animals by delineating an inter-species relationship. The fact that Joon is not ‘scared’ and ‘apprehensive’ of the animals and instead, he seeks guidance and assistance from talking animals, birds, beasts, and inanimate objects highlights the inter-species companionship in the story. When Joon met the ant for the first time, he was responsive to the ant’s request to keep his magnifying glass aside:

Please keep that mirror aside, I shall turn deaf.

Why?

When I see you through the glass, your voice also gets magnified along with your body (Adhikari, 2003, p.127).

Joon hurriedly kept his glass apart and responded, “ok! Now, tell me, what were you saying” (p.127)? Joon, by responding to the ant engages in what Donna Haraway terms as respecere in a companion species framework. Respecere, according to Haraway involves respect. It doesn’t simply mean to “look at”, but rather “to hold in regard, to respond, to look back reciprocally, to notice, to pay attention, to have courteous regard for, to esteem” (Haraway, 2008, 19). Although Joon projects his human exceptionalism and feels challenged at times, he holds respecere for the ‘nonhuman other’ and, ultimately, he learns to coexist with them. Joon learns a very important lesson from his journey: he is not rationally superior to or exceptional to the ‘non-human’ animals and objects. By the time he reaches Ratanpur, Joon accepts the fact that the fox, the dog, and other fantastic creatures are far more knowing than him. His communication with the fantastic creatures bridges the species divide as Joon learns to respect other beings as ‘fellow creatures’. The portrayal of animal-human relationships not only dismantles the essentialist notion of a superior human ontology, but the narrative of Siyali Palegoi Ratanpur also offers fertile terrain for ‘companion-species’ framework.

Conclusion

According to Zoe Jacques (2018), “children’s fantasy, in all of its genres, modes, and indeed, historical periods, can be deeply complex in negotiating alternate modes of authority or in destabilizing authority itself” (Children’s Literature and the Posthuman 239). In view of Jacques’ remark, it can be said that Assamese children’s literature offers illuminating ways to re-conceptualize humanity’s relationship with the non-human world. Navakanta Barua’s Siyali Palegoi Ratunpur, in this regard, destabilizes human exceptionality through a posthumanist play of rationality and power. The child protagonist, Joon’s encounter with fantastical creatures, offers new insights into human-animal studies, and in doing so, the text draws attention to the complexities of our lived relations with non-human others.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

Note

[i] All translations, unless cited are by the first author.

References:

Adhikari, Gaganchandra, (2003). Navakanta Baruar Sishu Sahitya Samagra. Anwesha.

Derrida, Jacques, (2008). The Animal That Therefore I am. Fordham University Press.

Elick, Catherine, (2015). Talking Animals in Children’s Fiction. McFarland and Company.

Hayles, N. Katherine, (1999). How we Became Posthuman. University of Chicago Press.

Haraway, Donna, (1985). A Cyborg Manifesto. Socialist Review.

Haraway, Donna, (2003). The Companion Species Manifesto- Dogs, People and Significant Otherness. Prickly Paradigm Press.

Haraway, Donna, (2008). When Species Meet. University of Minnesota Press.

Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial ecocriticism: Literature, animals, environment. Routledge.

Jacques, Zoe, (2015). Machines, Monsters, and Animals. Bookbird, 53 (1), 4-9. doi10.1353/bkb.2015.0006

Jacques, Zoe, (2018). Children’s Literature and the Posthuman: Animal, Environment, Cyborg. Routledge.

Nayar, Pramod. K, (2000). Posthumanism. Polity.

Ratelle, Amy, (2015). Animality and Children’s Literature. Palgrave Macmillan.

Roy, Sumana, (2020). Guilt Lit. Los Angeles Review of Books. doi lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/guilt-lit

Shires, Linda. M, (1988). Fantasy, Nonsense and Parody, and the Status of the Real: The Example of Carroll. Victorian Poetry, 26 (3), 267-283. Doi https://www.jstor.org/stable/40001965.

Tyler, Tom, (2020). The Exception and the Norm: Dimensions of Anthropocentrism. In S. McHugh, S. McKay, R. & Miller, J. (Eds). (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of Animals and Literature. Palgrave Macmillan.

Wolfe, Cary, (2003). Animal Rites. University of Chicago Press.

Wolfe, Cary, (2009). What is Posthumanism?. University of Minnesota Press.

Himaxee Bordoloi is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Darrang College, under Gauhati University, India. She has completed her M.A from the University of Hyderabad, and, presently, she is pursuing PhD from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati as a part-time scholar. Her research areas are Children’s Literature, Postcolonial Literature, Disability Studies, and Animality Studies.

Dr. Rohini Mokashi–Punekar is a Professor of English and former Chair at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. She is a translator and works on the interstices between literary history, political change, and social interrogation.

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