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Women in Popular Korean Drama: In Need of Embracing ‘Cyborg’ Feminism

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391 views

Kamna Singh

Assistant Professor of English, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. E-mail: kamnasingh@pec.edu.in

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s12n4

 Abstract

Women in Korean television dramas are depicted as modern, multifaceted, feminine and feminist. However, while rich, varied and complex on the surface; the female characters reveal their identities as remaining bound by traditional notions of what it means to be female, albeit a feminist female. Previous studies in this area are few and far between and do not focus on recently aired shows. As Korean dramas play a vital, conscious and subconscious role in shaping the individual and society, such research is the need of the hour; more so as the global popularity of these dramas has made them the unofficial cultural ambassadors of Asia. Through the lens of Donna Haraway’s feminist theory, this paper applies qualitative textual analysis to selected Korean dramas aired in the summer of the year 2020. It finds that female characters in these shows need to embrace what Haraway calls ‘cybernetic identity’. Using the symbol of the cyborg which is gender-neutral, these characters need to embrace ‘multigenderism’ without concern for what ‘category’ this will put them in, thus allowing their self-expression without the binary constraints of being ‘male’ or ‘female’ or the fear of being ‘something in between genders’. This research aims to further Gender Studies and inspire depictions of characters devoid of any preconceived notions in Korean dramas.

 Keywords: Postmodern Feminism, Haraway, Korean Drama, Qualitative Textual analysis

Beyond Postcoloniality: Female Subjectivity and Travel in Jamaica Kincaid’s Among Flowers

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177 views

Subarna Bhattacharya

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, Pune, E-mail: subarna.bhattacharya@live.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s12n3

Abstract

In feminist studies, the relation between gender and travel has been addressed in many important critical discourses. Feminist critics have pointed out that travel writing had for long remained oblivious about women’s travel, one reason being that travel was, forever, a masculinist exercise. Underlining the gendered aesthetics of travel writing, feminist criticism has read women’s travelogues as interesting sites of struggle between repeating the normative patterns of male travelling and casting an ‘alternative’ gaze. However, reading women’s travel writing simply as feminist narratives against their masculinist counterparts can be an oversimplification, as it may mean ignoring the deeper complexities underlying the texts. Being an autobiographical form, travel writing creates textual spaces where the formation of selfhood happens through a constant negotiation of the ‘self’ with the ‘world’, not only in terms of gender, but also other subject identities like race, class, and culture. In this context, my paper proposes to read Jamaica Kincaid’s Among Flowers. A Walk in the Himalaya (2005), as a female travel writing, where the question of gender intertwines with her non-white, ex-colonial, diasporic identity during her travel in Himalayan Nepal. My focus would be on examining the writer’s narratorial self as a female agency, influencing, and negotiating her postcolonial identity. The paper will try to address how the travelogue functions as a register of female experiences, while Kincaid, as a post-colonial black traveller, negotiates her position within the existing imperialist paradigm of white travelling.

Keywords: travel, travel-writing, gender, feminism, postcolonialism

An Analysis of ‘Emotions’ in Transgender through Facial Action Coding System

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185 views

Sugyanta Priyadarshini

KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. riro231110@gmail.com, ORCID: 0000-0001-7660-6162

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s11n6

Abstract

Transgender is a blanket term wrapping individuals whose gender identity, expression or behavior transgresses their biological sex. They are often put on the periphery in terms of finances and the social inclusion. The varying stereotypes of sexual binary recognize the transgenders as socially misfit and economically unaccepted. Emotionally, the transgenders face hardships and lack of social support that push them at the social cross-roads in terms of denial and rejection. Nevertheless, this emotional distress is generally aggravated by the family, friends and acquaintances. This paper examines the emotional binary of Transgenders and parents after their detachment by using an automatically based system on facial gestures called Facial Action Coding system (FACS). Further, their affirmative emotions, such as, Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Contempt, Surprise, and Fear is rated with an intensity rate justifying the strength of the respective emotion.  The FACS analysis of emotion of sadness resulting in depression is evaluated by using 20-item measure of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D).  The paper also explores the facilitative coping experiences after the recognition of the sexual identity by noting down the broad scale of emotional bandwidth. However, facial expressions of transgender respondents and their parents are recorded and are selected based on snow ball sampling. The research work has analyzed emotions of transgender respondents and their parents to know the ground reality of real troubles they come across standing on periphery of the society.

Keywords: Transgender, Parents, FACS, Emotions, Facial expressions, CES-D.

The Politics of Gendered Spatializations: A Study of Cityscapes in Manu Joseph’s Novels

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201 views

Parvathi M.S.

Research Scholar, Department of English Literature, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, E-mail: msparvathi1994@gmail.com, ORCID id: 0000-0002-9191-5999

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s11n4

Abstract

Burton Pike (1981) terms the cityscapes represented in literature as word-cities whose depiction captures the spatial significance evoked by the city-image and simultaneously, articulates the social psychology of its inhabitants (pp. 243). This intertwining of the social and the spatial animates the concept of spatiality, which informs the positionality of urban subjects, (be it the verticality of the city or the horizonality of the landscape) and determines their standpoint (Keith and Pile, 1993). The spatial politics underlying cityscapes, thus, determine the modes of social production of sexed corporeality. In turn, the body as a cultural product modifies and reinscribes the urban landscape according to its changing demographic needs. The dialectic relationship between the city and the bodies embedded in them orient familial, social, and sexual relations and inform the discursive practices underlying the division of urban spaces into public and private domains. The geographical and social positioning of the bodies within the paradigm of the public/private binary regulates the process of individuation of the bodies into subjects. The distinction between the public and the private is deeply rooted in spatial practices that isolate a private sphere of domestic, embodied activity from the putatively disembodied political, public sphere. Historically, women have been treated as private and embodied and the politics of the demarcated spaces are employed to control and limit women’s mobility. This gendered politics underlying the situating practices apropos public and private spaces inform the representations of space in literary texts. Manu Joseph’s novels, Serious Men (2010) and The Illicit Happiness of Other People (2012), are situated in the word-cities of Mumbai and Chennai respectively whose urban spaces are structured by such spatial practices underlying the politics of location. The paper attempts to problematize the nature of gendered spatializations informing the location of characters in Serious Men and The Illicit Happiness of Other People.

 Keywords: spatiality, space, gender, positionality, representations of space, public/private binary, spatialization, location, cityscapes

Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like a Man: A Depiction of the Trials and Tribulations of an Androgynous Personality

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288 views

Chhavi1 & Rajiv Bhushan2

 1National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Hostel- b NIT Jamshedpur – 831014, choudharychhavi06@gmail.com, 0000-0002-2044-0172

2National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Associate Professor Department of HSSM Jamshedpur – 831014 India, rbhushan.hum@nitjsr.ac.in, 0000-0002-3646-2181

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s11n2

Abstract

Mahesh Dattani is one of the leading Indian dramatists who responded to the problems of sexuality on the canvass of Indian theatre. He examined various facets of subjugation and marginalization rampant in Indian society. His plays focus on the sub-urban Hindu family and its trifle with gender and alternate sexuality. His plots revolve around the damaging implications of patriarchal constructs and his characters strive for liberty and self-satisfaction beneath hegemonic masculinity, compulsive heteronormativity and prejudiced cultural domain. Regarding his famous play Dance Like a Man, this paper critically examines the existing socio-cultural domain which practices politics of exclusion of androgynous identities behind the façade of peacefully cohabiting heterosexual Indian family and shows how Dattani, has remarkably countered the presentation of the polarized association of gender roles with conventional practice through performance of his protagonist. Set against the backdrop of patriarchal mindset, this paper delineates that the victim of patriarchal norms is not a woman but a man, who has traits of androgyny. It gives a brief account to highlight the significance of androgyny and portrays how androgyny is directly proportional to creativity. It elucidates how androgynous men undergo searing experiences of stigma and social untouchability in a traditional setup and how patriarchal norms reinforce dominant powers of society to stunt the growth of their personality.

Keywords: Androgyny, Creativity, Exclusion, Hegemonic masculinity, Patriarchal norms.

Redefined Families and Subsystems: Reading Kinship and Hierarchical Structures in Select Hijra Autobiographies

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231 views

Tanupriya

Assistant Professor, Department of Languages, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Christ (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR, E-mail: tanupriya@christuniversity.in

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s11n1

Abstract

Hijras or transwomen in India are gendered identities, but their identities cannot be reduced to the conceptual framework and analysis of ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’. Being the minority in India, transgender lives intersect with caste, class, kinship and hierarchy. The study locates these intersections within the scope of the select hijra autobiographies; The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story by A. Revathi and I am Vidya by Vidya. The study looks at the notions of ‘family’ which are traditionally woven in heteronormative and patriarchal setups. It examines the gharanas system or subsystems in hijra communities that redefines the structures and hierarchies of the family, and designating the fellow elder hijras with the relation of mata (mother) and cela (disciple), thus forming a kinship which is located beyond the caste, class and religious structures. The emphasis is to study how families are inserted in heteronormative perspectives and argues a redefining of the notion of ‘family’,and to establish and recognize the newer perspectives on ‘family’ which lies outside the traditional setup.

Keywords: Caste, Class, Family, Subsystems

Tragedy and Ecophobia: A Study of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea

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263 views

Thakurdas Jana

State Aided College Teacher-I, Department of English, Bhatter College, Dantan, E-mail: thakurdas0901@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n7

 Abstract

Terry Eagleton’s humorous question of “how a tragedy differs from a congress of global warming” echoes the tragic and traumatic life of human beings facing increasing violence of nature. In a tragedy, the protagonist does not have biophilia as conceptualized by Edward O. Wilson to explain the innate tendency of human beings to find connections with nature and other forms of life, rather experience with themselves of an ecophobia, ‘antipathy towards nature’ as defined by Simon C. Estok. In a tragedy, “the unfathomable agencies of Nature”, to Eagleton, create ecophobia among the characters of tragedies written in most of the periods of literature. It is experienced in a Renaissance tragedy Macbeth by the Bard of Avon with the appearance of ‘nature’s mischief’ as well as in a modern tragedy Riders to the Sea by J.M. Synge with the destructive sea devouring Maurya’s five sons, husband, and husband’s father creating an antipathy towards nature as shown in Macbeth’s fear of the ‘unruly’ and ‘rough’ night and the ambiguous movement of the Brinamwood, and Maurya’s desperate request to resist Bartley to travel by sea to the Galway fair. Their ecophobia has created an unhinged personality among them. With all these perspectives this paper aims to re-establish a connection between ecophobia and tragedy and examine how ecophobia has been internalized among the characters of the aforementioned play.

 Keywords: ecophobia, biophilia, tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare, Riders to the Sea, J.M.Synge

Climate Change in India: A Wakeup Call from Bollywood

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383 views

Manvi Sharma1 & Ajay K. Chaubey2

1Research Scholar(English, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand, E-mail- manvi.sharma4779@gmail.com, ORCID ID 0000-0003-2708-4403

2Assistant Professor-I (English, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, E-mail- kcajay79@nituk.ac.in, ORCID ID 0000-0002-6413-798

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n2

Abstract

Amidst Bollywood’s romanticized landscapes and grandeur settings, depiction of the flora and fauna, roaring rivers and drought prone lands, is difficult to locate. But the new millennium has witnessed some new generation filmmakers, sensitized towards the ecological concerns, thus marking a shift from the illustration of idealised landscapes to the representation of nature’s wrath. Since, cinema in India, has a deep-rooted impact on the masses, these creators employ films as tools to sensitize the population towards the climate change threat which though as perilous as the COVID-19 crisis, is often ignored by a significant amount of population. Dawning upon themselves the responsibility of environmental awakening, Nila Madhab Panda and Abhishek Kapoor highlight in their movies, Kadvi Hawa(2017) and Kedarnath(2018), respectively, the horrors of human callousness, leading to drastic change in Climatic condition in India. Panda’s Kadavi Hawa, dealing with non-repayment of loans followed by suicides, portrays the heart-wrenching imagery of environmental degradation and Climate change that has rendered the Village of Mahua, arid and infertile. Kapoor’s Kedarnath on the other hand, appeals for action through horrifying imagery of the catastrophic floods that disrupted the holy town of Kedarnath, in 2013. Through a detailed analysis of the aforementioned visual portrayals, this article aims to emphasise as to how Films can play an important role in effectively addressing dealing with the issues related to Climate. Further, the rationale of this paper is to underscore the possibility of more such storylines, as a tool towards effective engagement and levitation of conscience.

Keywords: Climate Change, Cultural Studies, Bollywood, Films, Eco-criticism etc

Psychosocial Impacts of War and Trauma in Temsula Ao’s Laburnum for My Head

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225 views

Raam Kumar T.1 & Dr.B.Padmanabhan2

1PhD Research Scholar, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University. Email: raamkumar.efl@buc.edu.in. ORCID: 0000-0003-0694-8671
2Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University. Email: padmanabhan@buc.edu.in. ORCID: 0000-0001-7395-126X

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s9n4

 Abstract

Violence constantly carries trauma and suffering to combatants as well as non- combatants identically. It also brings enmity and negativity to everyone both emotionally and physically. The cause for any conflict does not emerge from single motive but depends on multiple factors like socioeconomic conditions, marginalisation, discrimination, political power and sometimes even environmental elements. In recent times, the conflicts often emerge among various regional groups rather than states. North Eastern part of India is one of the hotspots for such ethnic conflicts and violence. The major motives for bloody conflict between Indian Army and the underground armed rebels are perceived political imbalance and desire for a separate nation. Even the common civilians are forced to join the rebel groups without knowing consequences. Temsula Ao is one of the prominent English writers from Nagaland who through her moving narratives brings out the existent misery of conflict in her native land. The aim of this paper is to study the psychological impact of domestic violence over the combatants as well as non-combatants whose lives are inseparably intertwined with violence and bloodshed. Though violence is considered as typical condition of human nature most of the time it leads to unbearable trauma and misery. This paper also attempts to interpret the representation of women from the marginalised Ao community who finds difficult to preserve the customs and moral values in spite of regional revolt.

Keywords: Psychological imbalance, Domestic violence, Aggression, North East India

The Absence of the Female in Medical Discourses of 19th century Bengal

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175 views

Tapti Roy

Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sharda University

E-mail: subterraneanhominin@gmail.com/tapti.roy@sharda.ac.in, ORCID Id: 0000-0001-9354-1882

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s8n3 

Abstract

The 19th century also witnessed a plethora of innovations in medicine that led to the rejection of the theory of miasma giving rise to a new perspective on human body and the diseases thereof which facilitated substantial study on tropical medicine and diseases by the imperial administration. Few contemporary novels bear testimony to this advancement of medicine and the advent of natives in the military and civil medical services. The paper, in question, will utilise one such novel that is, Banaphool’s Agniswar as an entrepot to question the absence of women in the evolving 19th century colonial medical discourse as active beneficiaries. It would seek to establish that women suffered worse than their male counterparts as their diseases were considered to be private affairs to be dealt exclusively within the confines of the household. The paper will commence by classifying contemporary females under three heads that is Memsahibs, Bhadramahilas, and the rest followed by studying them on the basis of Edward John Tilt’s Health in India for British Women, the case of Queen Empress vs Hurree Mohun Mythee, 26th July, 1890, and finally Ranajit Guha’s Chandra’s Death. To sum up, the female bodies will be studied as homogenous, dehumanized, and malleable, spaces appropriated by the males both native and colonial, to serve as sites of performative resistance against polluting mutual influences. Additionally, as female bodies they were intended to be ideologically consumable objects embodying the discourses of purity of the respective civilizations. Protecting the female body, claiming ownership, and control followed by the apathy of the colonial administration will be demonstrated as a reflection of medicine and public health in colonial India as a selective enterprise seeking to maximize economic and political gains.

Keywords: Colonial medicine, 19th century Bengal, Female bodies, Public health, Colonial woman, Chandra Chashani, Phulmoni Dasi

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