Women's Bodies As Sites of Signification and Contestation: an Analysis of Deepa Mehta's Critique of Narratives of Home, Na
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Women’s Bodies as Sites of Signification and Contestation: An Analysis of Deepa Mehta’s Critique of Narratives of Home, Nation and Belonging in the Elemental Trilogy by Snigdha Madhuri MSS, The University of Dhaka, 2009 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The College of Graduate Studies (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) June 2012 © Snigdha Madhuri, 2012 Abstract: This thesis examines Deepa Mehta’s trilogy—Water, Earth, Fire —and the trilogy’s exploration and contestation of colonial, anti-colonial nationalist, and religious ideologies as intersecting with patriarchal norms to enact symbolic and actual violence on the bodies of women. I argue that Mehta’s trilogy foregrounds the ways in which patriarchal nationalism legitimizes violence against women’s bodies and sexualities through different social and cultural practices and discourses which are interconnected. To explain the historical and contemporary contexts of Indian women’s domination and the ways they resist this domination, Mehta’s films unveil the underlying power relations among social forces such as colonialism, anti-colonial reform movements, post-colonial nationalism, religious and patriarchal heteronormative discourses which make women’s domination an acceptable cultural norm. Through an analysis of the experiences of women portrayed in Mehta’s films, I posit that the constructions of the Indian nation, in terms of national culture, tradition and identity, are gendered in specific ways that construct the Indian woman, both symbolically and physically, as a site where nationalist ideology provokes their political liberation, self-representation and agency. Mehta’s films disrupt these historical and contemporary practices, discourses and norms through the depictions of women’s multiple identities, experiences and sexualities. Her works demonstrate the ways in which women constantly resist, contest and negotiate with this domination and violence through their daily activities and narratives. ii Acknowledgements: I would like to thank to my supervisor, committee members, faculty, staff, and my fellow students and friends at the UBC’s Okanagan campus who have inspired me to continue my study. I want to acknowledge my supervisor Dr. Jennifer Gustar’s contribution not only to complete this research but also to make me confident and thoughtful. I would like to offer my enduring gratitude to my supervisor for her patience, guidance and inspiration in conducting this research and thanks for the affection and mental support. I want to express my special thanks to my co-supervisor Dr. John LeBlanc and my committee member Dr. Ilya Parkins for their valuable suggestions, patience, and guidance. I also thank to all faculty and staff in Critical Studies and other departments who have helped me by providing valuable suggestions regarding my research. I would like to thank the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s School of Graduate Studies and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies for extending me financial support in the form of a University Graduate Fellowship and teaching assistantships. Special thanks to my friends Vida, Luisa, Meg and Lindsay for their encourangement, companionship, and mental support. All my friends have provided different cultural perspectives to help me to think with greater complexity and understanding. I am most grateful to my friend and husband Rony Das for his tremendous support, assistance and patience during my research. I could not complete this work without his generous cooperation and support. iii Special thanks are owed to my parents who have extended their enduring mental support, financial support, and encouragement throughout my education, both in Bangladesh and in Canada. iv Table of Contents: Abstract: .......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements: ....................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents: ........................................................................................................................... v Dedication: ................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction: Deepa Mehta’s Trilogy ............................................................................................. 1 Transnationalism, Diaspora and Post-colonialism: ......................................................... 4 Post-colonialism, Gender, and Nationalism: ................................................................. 10 Heteronormative Discourses and Nationalism in Post-colonial Feminist Studies: ....... 14 Transnational Filmmaking Practices and Deepa Mehta’s Trilogy: ............................... 18 Chapter 1: Nationalism and Religion: Women’s Bodies in Deepa Mehta’s Water ...................... 24 Colonial and Upper-caste Nationalist Aspects of the Repression of Widows: ............. 27 Reform Movement, Debate on Widow’s Remarriage, and Disciplining Widow’s Sexuality: ....................................................................................................................... 35 Economic Aspects of Widowhood: ............................................................................... 39 Symbolic Constructions of Widowhood as ‘Social Death’:.......................................... 45 Widow’s Identities, Agency and Resistance: ................................................................ 50 Chapter 2: Women’s History: Partition, Borders and Bodies in Deepa Mehta’s Earth ............... 57 v Received Political and Nationalist Perspectives and Lenny’s Interventionist Narratives: ..................................................................................................................... 59 Violence Against Gendered Bodies, Sexuality and Desire: .......................................... 66 The Agency of Lenny and Ayah: .................................................................................. 75 Chapter 3: Disrupting Home and Heteronormativity: Homoerotic Desire and Women’s Identities in Fire ............................................................................................................................ 86 Theorizing Diaspora, Home, and Identity: .................................................................... 90 Construction of Patriarchal and Uniform Indian National and Cultural Identity:......... 93 Nationalist Constructions of Home, Family and Nation and the Role of Women’s Bodies and Sexualities: ................................................................................................. 98 Women’s Responses to Heteronormativity and the Articulation of Homoerotic Desire: ......................................................................................................................... 108 Interstitial Agencies: ................................................................................................... 111 Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................. 123 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 131 Primary Sources: ......................................................................................................... 131 Secondary Sources: ..................................................................................................... 131 Appendix I .................................................................................................................................. 144 Literature Review: Deepa Mehta’s “Elemental Trilogy” .......................................... 144 vi Scholarship on Water : ........................................................................................... 144 Scholarship on Earth : ............................................................................................ 149 Scholarship on Fire : .............................................................................................. 157 vii Dedication: To my parents: Sandha Rani Roy (mother) Paik Samir Baran (father) and My friend and life partner: Rony Das viii Introduction: Deepa Mehta’s Trilogy Indo-Canadian film director Deepa Mehta was born in 1950 in Amritsar, a border city between India and Pakistan located in India (Banning and Levitin 274, Monk 201). Mehta’s father, who was a film distributor, was forced to relocate to Amritsar from Lahore because of the violence of the partition of India in 1947. Growing within a filmic environment, Mehta was already involved with documentary filmmaking when she completed her master’s degree in Philosophy at Delhi University.When Mehta was considering pursuing a PhD, she was invited to work with a production company to make documentaries for the Indian government (Banning and Levitin 274). While working in this company, Mehta learned various film techniques such as editing, sound, camera work, and narrative development, and she made her first documentary film on a child bride. During her filming on another documentary, Mehta met with Paul Saltzman who was making a documentary on the High Commissioner of India at that time. Mehta moved to Canada in 1973 after marrying Saltzman and formed a production company, Sunrise