“The Principles and Practice of Digital Content Writing” (ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION)
Source Title: Digital Communication for the 21st Century,
“A Decolonial Reading of the Dystopian Narratives About Feticide and Infanticide in Hindi Films.”
Source Title: Kritika Kultura, Quartile: Q2
View abstract ⏷
T he guiding principle concerning the question of bodily agency and the feminist discourse of employing a focus on abortion in extending liberation for women since the mid-1900s in the West finds a nemesis in sex-selective abortion in India. Unfortunately, the sociocultural baggage, lack of sensitization, and fanatic adherence to tradition allow the illegal practice of prenatal sex determination in considerable parts (both urban and rural) of India a wide berth. The eventual criminalization, harassment, and oppression of women who fail to bear male offspring within an all-encompassing heteronormative patriarchal system problematize the context further. T he use of a monistic colonial discourse in delineating these practices negates the plurality of the problem. Hence, employing decoloniality to comprehend these issues against a sociolegal framework might aid. The oeuvre of Indian cinematic narratives showcases a severe dearth of intervention when addressing these issues. Anchoring on decolonial feminism and feminist consciousness-raising, and taking liberty with genre and medium fluidity, this article investigates the irreconcilable gulf between the two conflicting aspects of abortion in India through five cinematic works: Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women (2003), Kajarya (2015), Brina (2016), Chhorii (2021), and Jayeshbhai Jordaar (2022).
“Poetics and Politics of Seclusion: Approaching Purdah through Intersectionality in Select Works of Indian Female Authors.”
Source Title: LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, Quartile: Q2
“In Search of Redemption: Approaching Dalit Masculinities in Article 15 (2019) and Jai Bhim (2021)”
Source Title: Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, Quartile: Q3
“Philosophy and Morality in Practice through Media Texts: Review of the Web Series Kaala Paani.”
Source Title: Media Asia, Quartile: Q2
“Beyond Reproduction: An Epistemological Search for a ‘Woman’ in Manjula Padmanabhan’s Escape and The Island of Lost Girls.”
Source Title: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, Quartile: Q3
View abstract ⏷
Who is a woman? In a gender-fluid typical world, the answer to this question invites a serious exposition of non-linear and non-binary possibilities. As the biological definition becomes more inclusive of fragmented identities, it becomes extremely complicated to arrive at a simplistic, innocent truth of recognition. Within the third-world dynamics, this question invites more dimensions. Set against the backdrop of mass female genocide on the occasion of perfecting cloning, Manjula Padmanabhan in her works of futuristic dystopian fiction, Escape (2015) and The Island of Lost Girls (2017), has taken up this issue of womanhood and furtively trodden to arrive at a philosophical space that allows the modernist epistemological notion of a “woman” as a well-defined category to reincarnate within a postmodern paradigm to help locate women beyond the generic nuances of reproduction and menial labour. Through analysing the selective works, this research article aims at arriving close to the model of womanhood and depicting the plurality of truth in action.
“An Essence of Postmodern Truth(s): Analyzing “Motherhood” in Red Clocks by Leni Zumas.”
Source Title: Forum for World Literature Studies, Quartile: Q1
View abstract ⏷
In a world where postmodern feminism aims at inclusivity and
intends to do away with the politics of defining categories, the overturning of the landmark 1973, Roe vs Wade judgment complicates the very notion of reproductive rights and justice. It further brings under scrutiny the institution and practice of motherhood and abortion. Literary fiction dealing with the issues of abortion is numbered but within that limited oeuvre, Red Clocks (2018) by Leni Zumas approaches these issues from an essentially postmodern perspective. The trope of multifarious vantage points of four major characters, the Biographer, the Mender, the Wife, and the Daughter; with the overarching life story of the polar explorer Eivør Mínervudottír simultaneously offers conflicting and converging notions of motherhood, agency, and freedom. The speculative setting of the novel adds to the crisis and the dystopian air further problematizes the issues. By employing the method of close textual reading and anchoring on the theoretical models of feminist critical dystopias and feminist epistemology (postmodern narratives) this research paper intends to investigate the narrative space of the novel to depict the variegated shades of motherhood, the nuances of abolishing the abortion rights and the autonomy over the body.
“Indigenous Epistemology, Media, and the Representation of Women in Kantara.”
Source Title: Journal of International Women's Studies, Quartile: Q2
View abstract ⏷
Cinematic works around indigenous lives in India have long been marginalized within the scope of “film as an entertaining art form.” Striking a balance between a faithful rendition of an indigenous community and the infusion of entertainment seemed impossible within the Indian film industry until Kantara struck the silver screen. Since its release, the film has been subjected to constructive and positive criticism, but the representation of women in the film has either remained unattended to or viewed negatively. This research paper intends to approach the use of indigenous media and epistemology in the film as a symptomatic representation of fourth cinema and then to address the representation of women from the perspective of faithful representation and indigeneity.
“Calibrating the ‘Feminine’ and the ‘Speculative’ in Selective Short Stories of Vandana Singh.”
Source Title: Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, Quartile: Q1
View abstract ⏷
Anchoring on the core notions spiraled out of a close reading of Hélène Cixous’s “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1975), this article intends to interpret four short stories of Vandana Singh from the anthology The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet (2008) by using écriture feminine as a tool of analysis. The selected stories belonging to the genre of speculative fiction respectively oscillate around four women characters and leave us with an emerging pattern of searching for a lost “self.” The ingenious story telling with elements of the imaginary addresses subtle yet complicated gender issues. Apropos to this, compartmentalized into three primary sections this work develops an argument toward recognizing an unconventional and original literary tradition in the making that might partially realize the intricate nuances of woman’s writing within a South-Asian (Indian) context.
“Sex-Selective Abortion and Media: Review of the Film Jayeshbhai Jordaar (2022).”
Source Title: Media Asia, Quartile: Q2
“Comprehending the Bleeding Body: Epistemological Violence and (Un) Tabooing Menstruation in Selective Media Texts in India.”
Source Title: Journal of International Women's Studies, Quartile: Q2
View abstract ⏷
The representation of menstruation in Indian media texts (films, short films, and advertisements) is limited. Besides the advertisement of industrially produced sanitary napkins, we hardly come across their mention. Even in cinematic spaces with female leads, the issue remains unuttered. Since the last half of the previous decade, there has been a conscious attempt to raise awareness around menstruation. Considering menstruation as a socially mediated biological process, in which bodies become sites where social constructions of differences are mapped onto human beings to inflict violence upon the subject, these works have resisted this systematic patriarchal oppression by asking an appropriate question, “which bodies are producing knowledge about which other bodies?” (Harcourt, 2009, p. 13), indicating that this assigning of impurity to menstruation through myths, taboos, and restrictions is a patriarchal construct. In many parts of India, menstruating women are not even allowed inside the kitchen or the temple. This forced isolation is indeed gender-based violence, which is driven by socio-cultural and religious beliefs compounded with gender norms. The research paper argues that by reading menstruation through the lens of body politics and in the context of media representation currently prevalent in India, it is now possible to understand and decode menstruation as a phenomenon of gendered oppression. Additionally, through these compelling narratives, it is also possible to reflect on how these interventions contribute to altering everyday practices and their limitations. This might lead to social change by demystifying taboos around the menstrual body and showing women their situation in a way that affirms they can act to change it and reconstruct a meaningful relationship to their bodies.
Science Fiction and Indian Women Writers: Exploring Radical Potentials
Source Title: AAG Review,
“In Search of a ‘Forest Consciousness’: Investigating the Heterotopian Design in Aranyer Adhikar (Right to Forest, 1977) by Mahasweta Devi.”
Source Title: Cape Comorin,
View abstract ⏷
Aranyer Adhikar resonates a fine balance between growth and slumber, prosperity and hardship, profligacy and austerity. Now, if we take a look back at the couple of personal accounts in the beginning of this research paper, it will unfailingly be obvious that with what purpose I deliberated upon their inclusion. And what I have thoroughly realized is that the comfort of seminars, conferences and research articles will not manifest this design. We are in desperate need of a sensitization, a sensitization that will bring in Birsa?s stories to the bedroom of children and hopefully, one fortuitous afternoon they too will embrace a tree trunk with the hope of saving it from felling.
“Between the ‘inner’ and the ‘outer’ space: An Investigation into the Socio-cultural Location of Women in Rabindranath Tagore’s The Home and the World.”
Source Title: Official Journal of the Women’s Studies Department, Lady Brabourne College,
