BACK/SIDE ENTRY: QUEER/POSTCOLONIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SOUTH ASIA Sandeep Bakshi To cite this version: Sandeep Bakshi. BACK/SIDE ENTRY: QUEER/POSTCOLONIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SOUTH ASIA. Gender studies. University of Leicester; School of English, 2011. English. tel- 01931468 HAL Id: tel-01931468 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01931468 Submitted on 4 Dec 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Public Domain University of Leicester, United Kingdom PhD oral examination held on 10th May 2011 BACK/SIDE ENTRY: QUEER/POSTCOLONIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SOUTH ASIA Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Sandeep Bakshi School of English University of Leicester February 2011 Abstract Back/Side Entry: Queer/Postcolonial Representations of South Asia Sandeep Bakshi Back/Side Entry examines contemporary queer fiction in English from South Asia and its diasporas. It underscores the critical significance of a double-pronged theoretical approach by combining insights from queer and postcolonial scholarship. Building upon recent research that re-maps queer discourses through an encounter with postcolonial theory and narratives, this thesis argues that South Asian queer fiction disputes the Western bias in queer paradigms, and challenges the elision of sexual and gender non- normativity in postcolonial studies in order to make both queer and postcolonial sites truly transformational. It interrupts routine practices of absorption and gradual oblitera- tion of non-Western/non-White subjects in standard accounts of queerness and concur- rently locates queer self-representation from postcolonial/diasporic South Asian writers as central to a discussion of the larger conceptual debates in queer theory. Queer narra- tives from South Asia and its diasporas emphasise the significance of postcolonial, diasporic, ethnic, racial, religious, class, caste and linguistic formations in addressing questions related to the representation of alternative genders and sexualities. Through a close reading of novels by Hanif Kureishi, Leslie de Noronha, P. Parivaraj, Shyam Selvadurai, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla and R. Raj Rao, this thesis analyses South Asian queer formulations, which simultaneously continue and contest Western models of queer identity. The focus on unconventional arrangements of gender and sexuality in the postcolonial site of South Asia repositions the field of queer studies towards non-Euro- American contexts and legitimates the status of ―queer‖ as a pluralistic critical forma- tion. This thesis extends the transnational/trans-disciplinarian academic framework that registers a rising discontent with Western models of global queerness and contributes to the growing presence of non-white, non-Western and Third World voices in queer studies. Adding to newly emergent discussions of queer subjectivity in South Asia, it offers an original contribution to the field through a thorough investigation of current South Asian queer fiction. Acknowledgements This thesis is the outcome of an engaging critical dialogue that I have established with my supervisor Dr Emma Parker, Senior Lecturer and Chair of the MA in Modern Literature, in the School of English at the University of Leicester. Dr Parker is as gifted a scholar as she is an adviser and her commitment to the politics of this project sus- tained me in times of doubt. I am sincerely grateful for her intellectual rigour, support, advice and encouragement throughout the whole process. I thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for providing the funding that made this research viable. I am deeply indebted to Professor Ania Loomba who wrote a distinguished reference in my favour. The School of English generously offered me paid seminar teaching which helped me acquire teaching skills. I am especially thankful to Professor Martin Stannard and Professor Joanne Shattock for acting as my mentors. My work has surely benefitted from the significant insights of the research committee that comprises Dr Sarah Graham and Dr David Farrier. Their discussion of Chapter 4 of this thesis allowed me to polish my arguments and articulate my position clearly. I thank them for their invaluable engagement with my work. I have been incredibly fortunate to present papers connected to various aspects of my thesis at a number of conferences in the UK and Europe. I have also benefitted from the Arts and Humanities Research Council training in Colonial and Postcolonial History in Bristol and Warwick. This project would have been unthinkable without the loving support of friends and family. Abhay, Paul, Valérie, David and my goddaughter Emma reminded me of the salvaging potential of queer belonging and kinship. I thank them for all their affec- tion. I could not have imagined this project without the unconditional love of my partner Frédéric, my sister Kavita and my brother-in-law Manish. My sister has always been a source of inspiration. I am grateful to my niece Khushi and nephew Aadit for the generous love they shower on me whenever I go to India. Their affectionate bond brings back fond childhood memories that my sister and I share. I dedicate this thesis to my parents who continue to amaze me with their active interest in my work despite the challenges that it presents for them. Their prolific telephone conversations about ―new‖ food urged me to look for newness in my thesis. I will always admire them for their patience with me. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One 60 Growing Love: Queer Adolescence and the Crisis of Postcolonial Modernity in Shyam Selvadurai‘s Funny Boy and P. Parivaraj‘s Shiva and Arun Chapter Two 97 Forced Accents: Postcolonial Identities, Queer Practices in Hanif Kureishi‘s The Buddha of Suburbia Chapter Three 130 Bollywood Homes: Queer Diasporic Identity in Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla‘s Ode to Lata Chapter Four 160 Fractured Resistance: Queer Negotiations of the Postcolonial in R. Raj Rao‘s The Boyfriend Chapter Five 190 Past Continuous: Queer Contestations of the Colonial Paradigm in Leslie de Noronha‘s The Dew Drop Inn and Shyam Selvadurai‘s Cinnamon Gardens Conclusion 222 Works Cited 240 1 Introduction In the provocative video rendition of the song ―Kamasutra‖ from the album Festival (2002-03), the renowned Italian sister duo Paola and Chiara engage in a highly sexual- ised performance of female same-sex desire. Inscribed in the contemporary trend of lesbian hypervisibility for male spectatorship, which global artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have popularised in recent years, Paola and Chiara‘s act extends the visual limits of lesbian sexual pleasure by incorporating scenes of explicit sadomasochism with glossy PVC strap-on and other leather outfits. The cascade of images that accompanies the rhythmic and ecstatic incantation of ―Kamasu- tra‖ creates the impression of an unproblematic, harmonious emancipation of queer female sexuality. Throughout the song, heterosexual desire appears restricted as its representation remains confined to the television screen that the sisters watch intermit- tently. It seems as if heterosexuality relates to a distant past and inevitably functions as a sign of faded memory. Where bright spotlights enhance the sensual quality of the corps à corps between the sisters, etiolated images of male-female lovemaking serve to displace heterosexual desire as the master signifier. For a brief instant, an almost inaudible sound of Punjabi women singing a traditional folk song ―Kaleyan Baghan di Mehendi‖ (―The Henna of Dark Gardens‖) interrupts the Italian-language song. As the Punjabi voices merge with the Italian rhythms, the verbal cadences replicate the visual contrast between same-sex and heterosexual desire. Like heterosexuality in the visual arrangement, the remote voices of the Punjabi women exist as a mnemonic as well as partial presence in the overall vocal composition of Paola and Chiara. The final audio sequence literally effaces the sharp and irregular Punjabi beats, and the sisters end the song in soft tones. 2 The song aptly attests to the international circulation of artistic and cultural prac- tices that is manifest in Paola and Chiara‘s reference to the classical Indian text of Kama Sutra and the Punjabi song. As a paradigmatic moment of Western cultural theft of Third World art, the song follows the routine trajectory of what Gayatri Gopinath terms ―the standard circuits of commodification and appropriation‖ (Impossible Desires 29). The performance offers an insight into how global modes of consumption underpin questions of queer identity whereby exoticism in the form of South Asian culture can become readily available for the articulation of the Western queer subject even whilst the sisters play at being lesbian and do not indeed offer a positive perception of queer- ness. By absorbing the literary and cultural forms of expression from other geographical locations, Western queer subjectivity simultaneously defines itself in opposition to a non-Western Other and opens up mainstream spaces