Gender Studies - Page 7

Infidelity to True Story and Novel: Locating the Auteur in Rituparno Ghosh’s Dahan

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Akaitab Mukherjee

Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages (SSL), Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai Campus, Tamil Nadu, India, akaitab.mukherjee@gmail.com, ORCID id-0000-0001-6410-9898

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.42

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Abstract

Rituparno Ghosh (1961-2013), a celebrated Bengali film director who started making films in 90s, often borrows plots from literary and other cultural narratives.  The essay aims to explicate Ghosh’s early film Dahan (1997) which is an adaptation of distinguished Bengali novelist Suchitra Bhattacharya’s novel with the same title. Bhattacharya’s novel is influenced by the real incident in which a couple was harassed by four youths at Tollygunge Metro Station in Kolkata on 27th November, 1992. The film also acknowledges that it is indebted to the true story. The essay explicates the adaptation of the two sources by the auteur. It examines the duplication of authorial concerns in this adaptation while following the narratives of two texts. Ghosh remains unfaithful to the literary text and the cultural memory of the true story to establish his authorship. As Ghosh’s films portray the middle-class women in a patriarchal society, following Janet Staiger’s reconsideration of the theory of auteur in the context of queer movement and identity politics in the 1970s, the essay argues that the performance of infidelity to the literary and true story to establish authorship is auteur’s “technique of the self”.

Keywords: Auteur, fidelity, Dahan, Based on true story, Rituparno Ghosh

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Reframing Reproduction in Vernacular Periodicals: A Study of Contraception in Late Colonial Bengal

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Ayana Bhattacharya

M. Phil scholar at the Department of English, Jadavpur University. ORCID id: 0000-0001-7160-6323. Email: b_ayana@yahoo.in, b20.ayana@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.41

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Abstract

With the emergence of the thriving literary public sphere around the close of the 19th century across colonial India, the issue of birth control was being debated in various magazines by economists, sexologists, doctors and members of women’s organizations. The discussions on reproductive rights of women and dissemination of contraceptive information published in various vernacular periodicals can be situated within a network of other contemporary discourses on “economizing reproduction” that were gaining visibility around this time. The present paper would like to explore the perceptions of women’s reproductive body at the beginning of the 20th century that were being forged through coalescing narratives on bourgeois norms of obscenity (aslilata?), biopolitical concerns of an emerging nation state in the last throes of anti-colonial struggle, and various takes on (heteronormative) interpersonal relationships between future citizens. It is within this specific context that I would like to examine articles on birth control published during the early 1930s in the ‘self-styled’ Bengali women’s magazine Jayasree? launched by revolutionary leader Leela Nag. By situating the opinions voiced by the men and women writing in the pages of this literary periodical vis-à-vis contemporary intellectual trends of birth control movement in India, this paper seeks to study the interactive textual ecosystem within which the writers and readers (the implied future authors) of Jayasree? were functioning.

 Keywords: birth control, reproductive politics, obscenity, bio-power, ‘right’ consciousness.

Review article: The Politics of Gender Hybrid Representation of Delhi

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Shruti Rawal

Department of English, St. Xavier’s College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Email: shrutirawal@stxaviersjaipur.org

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.40

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Abstract

The growth of the metropolitan phenomenon has resulted in the emergence of new power centres in all the countries of the world. These cities have geographical, political and economic significance. The narratives of these cities have been captured by the writers for centuries in their fictional and non-fictional work. The research intends to focus on the representation of the city of Delhi in two prominent works: Khushwant Singh’s Delhi: A Novel and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Both the texts are located in the city of Delhi and have a prominent transgender character at its core and the study aims to understand the writer’s intent and manner of drawing similarities between the city and the character. It also proposes to explore this hybridity of gender as a deliberate tool to represent the city of Delhi. The failure of anyone binary to capture the essence of the city and the advantage of the androgynous approach will be discussed in the paper. It will also endeavour to understand how the phenomenon of cities has led to the creation of spaces that promote hybridity.

Keywords: Delhi, transgender, spaces, androgyny

The Uneasy Gaze – Appearing for Interviews to get Married – An Empirical Investigation into the Pre-marital Arranged Marriage Negotiations in Urban Kolkata

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359 views

Sucharita Sen
PhD Scholar, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Email: sucharitasen13@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.33

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 Abstract

Indian society, when viewed from a Foucauldian feminist perspective offers a curious and unique example of societal scrutiny over its members. This overt exercise of power influences individual behaviour, attitudes and has a profound influence on decision making. In this context, this paper argues, within an empirical framework, the limitations of freedom of choice for women in pre-marital arranged marriage negotiations. Women find themselves coercively thrust into uneasy situations of objectification, forced to mould themselves to fit into hegemonic patriarchal parameters. They are lambasted if they fail to fulfil the required expectations. Based on a survey of 250 young brides and prospective brides of upper-caste, middle-class background in urban Kolkata, I argue that the pre-marital negotiations in arranged marriages systematically subjugate the women. Faced with societal and familial pressure, the women often find themselves marginalised and subjugated in the process of arranged marriage.

Keywords: Women, Patriarchy, Arranged Marriages, Objectification.

Gender Subversion in Iris Murdoch’s The Unicorn

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406 views

Soheila Farhani Nejad

English Department, Islamic Azad University, Branch of Abadan, Iran.

Email: soheila.farhani@gmail.com. ORCID:  0000-0001-8168-0703

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.42

Gender Subversion in Iris Murdoch’s The Unicorn

Abstract

This study examines the various representations of female identity in Murdoch’s The Unicorn. The analysis of the novel revolves around the character of Hannah who is the center of everyone’s obsessive gaze. She is described both as an angel and a monster, a victim and a victimizer. Her victimization is aggravated by her passive submission to the will of her victimizers. This simultaneous presence of contradictory features in one character problematizes the notion of perceiving female identity in terms of binaries. As a typical Gothic heroine, Hannah is trapped within cultural assumptions about women. She passively and yet subversively plays the roles projected on her by the contradictory desires of other characters. It will be argued that the obsessive pursuit of perfection in a female figure as well as the disruption of the boundaries of victim and victimizer in this novel serve to problematize the cultural tendency to understand individuals in terms of stereotypes. Therefore, this study aims to illustrate how Murdoch has used an enigmatic female character to challenge the readers’ disposition to perceive characters in terms of gender stereotypes.

Keywords: Gothic, Gender stereotypes, Binaries, Victimization.

Carmen and Salome: the theme of “femme fatale” in the ballets of Mukaram Avakhri

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446 views

Dilara Shomayeva

Kazakh National Academy of Choreography, 9 Uly dala avenue, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan. Email: dilara.shomayeva@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.41

Carmen and Salome: the theme of “femme fatale” in the ballets of Mukaram Avakhri

Abstract

The article deals with the image of the so-called femme fatale in Kazakh choreographic art in the case study of two ballets by Mukaram Avakhri: “Carmen” and “Salome”. The author analyzes the artist’s interpretation of the images of the two title characters as canonical cultural texts in the discourse on the history of female representation. At present, the choreographic theory is at the junction of feminist thought and choreographic interdisciplinary practice that strives to view the dancing female body through alternative means of cognition. The stereotype of femininity in dominant conceptions of the Western culture can be deconstructed through the new experience of female authors that influences the performer and the viewer in a new way. The directing and plastique-based approaches that help the young female Kazakh choreographer to achieve this are of interest to the authors.

Keywords: art history, ballet, female image, female choreographer, canon.

The Weird ‘Others’: An ‘Alternative’ Understanding of the Witches of Macbeth from Feminist Perspective

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Reema Chakrabarti1, PhD & Shah Al Mamun Sarkar2, PhD

1Assistant Professor of English, Techno Main Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091, India, chakrabarti.reema2012@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2136-7349

2Assistant Professor of English, ICFAI University Tripura, Kamalghat, West Tripura-799210, India, shahalmamunsarkar@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9019-6577

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.39

The Weird ‘Others’: An ‘Alternative’ Understanding of the Witches of Macbeth from Feminist Perspective

Abstract

This paper attempts to re-interpret the witches of Macbeth from a Feminist perspective. Both critics as well as the ordinary readers mostly receive them in a negative light. Doing so, they overlook the fact that women like these witches are relegated to the margins and share a history of being discriminated and vulnerable to attacks. Within the text, they are humiliated as the ‘weird others’ and compared to ‘bubbles’ on earth. To this date, people have the tendency to marginalize and discriminate women who posit their individuality in their socially reclusive lifestyle. While analyzing their character from a Feminist perspective, the paper will explore their trauma and identify their mischief as a source of rebellion. By making such an alternative reading of the text, the work aims to create a ‘shock-effect’ among people who continue to discriminate such marginalized women.

Keywords: Women, Witches, Macbeth, Feminism, Identity.

Gendered Parenting influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Stereotype in Marital life

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476 views

Nisrutha Dulla & Sugyanta Priyadarshini

1,2 School of Humanities, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, India

1nisrutha@gmail.com, 2sugyanta.priyadarshini@kiit.ac.in

1 ORCID: 0000-0003-0365-8281. 2ORCID: 0000-0001-7660-6162

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.28

Gendered Parenting influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Stereotype in Marital life

Abstract

This research work draws attention towards heated debate on transfer of gender biased ideology to generations embedding from gendered parenting. Gendered parenting has the potential to be a breeding ground for fueling the belief of gender stereotyping in the minds of their offsprings. This notion of gender stereotyping has created a picture in the heads of the descendants regarding the fixed gender roles which develops gendered socialization in governing the social world from the lens of gender biasness. The objective of the study is to examine empirically the impact of gendered parenting on gendered socialization in their children’s marital life. The study adopts thirty-two-items scale devised by Brogan & Kutner (1976) and eight- items scale under Gender Role Stereotype Scale (2012) by taking into consideration a sample size of eight hundred respondents comprising of highly educated married professionals and their parents. The findings revealed that children have rightly perceived their parent’s act of gender stereotype in their childhood. Consequently, despite being highly educated, the act of gender stereotyping continues in their married life as they burgeoned under the reflection of gendered parenting. Furthermore, it is also interpreted in the analysis that the female respondents are adversely affected by the pervasive bias and prejudices of gender stereotype in professional life in comparison to the male respondents. The study makes efforts to enhance the understanding of the community of parents to limit the transmission of gendered ideology to their next generations, thereby, progressing towards egalitarian society.

Keywords: Gender, Gendered Parenting, Gender Stereotype, Gender Socialization, Marriage, Couples.

Examining the Nuances of Trauma Through a Survivor’s Testimony: A Study of A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi: A Candid Biography of India’s First Transgender Principal by Manobi Bandyopadhyay with Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey

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486 views

Pratishi Hazarika

Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of English, Tezpur University, Assam, Email id: pratishihazarika@gmail.com, ORCID id: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7026-1124

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.20
Examining the Nuances of Trauma Through a Survivor’s Testimony: A Study of A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi: A Candid Biography of India’s First Transgender Principal by Manobi Bandyopadhyay with Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey

Abstract

The transgender community in India is a marginalized social group that lacks the basic human rights and privileges granted to the cisgender and heterosexual subjects in society. Due to their non-conforming gender and sexual identity, transgender individuals are labeled as deviant, abnormal and diseased in society that has adverse effects on their psyche, making them prone to suicidal thoughts, acute depression and anxiety. This study aims to analyze the trauma endured by transgender individuals and its never-ending effects on their psychological health, through a re-reading of Manobi Bandyopadhyay’s biography, titled, A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi: A Candid Biography of India’s First Transgender Principal (2017) by Bandyopadhyay with Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey. It shall also explore how the trauma experienced by transgender people in society is of two folds- bodily trauma and mental trauma which demands an integrated approach, as applied in the study. The methodology of close reading of the selected text shall be combined with the framework of trauma psychology and transgender studies, to conduct the study.  The significance of this paper rests in the absence of a comprehensive literary study, in the mentioned area.

Keywords: Trauma, Transgender people, Stigma, Mental Health

Gender Discrimination in the Media of Eastern Europe: A Historical and Comparative Aspect

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Olga Khamedova1, Oksana Zhuravska2, Olena Rosinska3 & Vitaliy Gandziuk4

1Assoc. Prof., Dep. of Journalism Institute, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine, o.khamedova@kubg.edu.ua, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9545-4464

2Assoc. Prof., Dep. of Journalism Institute, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine, o.zhuravska@kubg.edu.ua, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4623-8933

3Assoc. Prof., Dep. of Journalism Institute, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine, o.rosinska@kubg.edu.ua, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4460-0668

4Assoc. Prof., Dep. of Journalism Institute, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine, v.handziuk@kubg.edu.ua, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4312-6848

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.19

Gender Discrimination in the Media of Eastern Europe: A Historical and Comparative Aspect

Abstract

The research analyzes a topical issue of gender balance in media in its historical cutoff. The authors consider imbalance regarding the gender of the key figures in publications as one of indicators of latent discrimination. The subject of the content-analysis is Globus, an illustrated magazine published in Kyiv in 1923-1935. This progressive periodical paid significant attention to the issue of female emancipation; that is why its research is also demonstrative for studying the diachrony of a gender stereotypization phenomenon. The purpose of the content analysis was to determine the qualitative indicators with respect to distribution between verbal and visual women’s and men’s images in this magazine as a material indicator of worldview stereotypization. As the research results show, Globus had extremely low rate concerning the women’s representation in text materials (15%) and illustrations (18%). Correspondingly, the ratio of women’s and men’s images in total amounts to 1:5. Moreover, a tendency to gender asymmetry in 1930’s only increased, since the quantity of men’s representations in the magazine of 1932 reached almost 90% and women’s ones decreased respectively. Thus, the comparison of women’s and men’s images already amounted to 1:7, i.d. gender disproportion grew up. The data received have been compared with the monitoring results of current media content related to the compliance with gender balance; that allowed specification and analysis of main tendencies in representation of women and men in the media discourse in the beginning of XX and XXI centuries.

Keywords: media representations, content analysis, gender balance, gender discrimination.

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