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Syncretic Socialism in Post-Colonial West Bengal: Mobilizing and Disciplining Women for a ‘Sustha’ Nation-State

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Syncretic Socialism in Post-Colonial West Bengal: Mobilizing and Disciplining Women for a ‘Sustha’ Nation-State Syncretic Socialism in Post-Colonial West Bengal: Mobilizing and Disciplining Women for a ‘Sustha’ Nation-State by Anisha Datta A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Sociology) The University of British Columbia (Vancouver) August 2009 © Anisha Datta, 2009 Abstract The discourse of equality, emancipation and dignity for women does not necessarily lead to the formation of an emancipated female subject, but often ends up supporting structures and practices against which the struggle was begun. The thesis develops this argument through a close reading of the textual discourse of the socialist women’s mass organization, the Paschim Banga Ganatantrik Mahilaa Samity (PBGMS). The PBGMS is the largest state unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), which in turn is affiliated with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the largest communist party in India. While the PBGMS relentlessly fights for women’s rights in public life, an examination of its published materials suggests that its ultimate aim to create a sustha (normal) nation-state, a cohesive society and a happy family turn these rights into new shackles for women. In particular, through a close reading of its publications – including pedagogical booklets, editorials, essays, poems, travelogues and fictional narratives from the periodical Eksathe – the thesis explores how the PBGMS views women instrumentally as reproductive and socializing agents for the supply of future sources of productive labor and as productive beings to act as a reserve force of labor. While comparisons can be made with other countries in the socialist world, in particular China and the USSR, this thesis focuses on PBGMS textual discourse within the specific social and political history of India, in particular Bengal. Through its selective appropriation and use of ideologies from both traditional cultural resources and modern political philosophies, the organization produces a ‘syncretic’ variety of socialism. In particular, by discursively unifying diverse beliefs and tenets the organization ironically produces a narrow nation-state centred orthodoxy rather than a dynamic heterodoxy and pluralism. This research attempts to answer the question: In what ways does the textual discourse of this communist party affiliated women’s ii mass organization, in pursuit of building a sustha socialist nation-state, attempt to discipline the political constituency of women? Although the political party and its mass organization aim to mobilize women by appealing to their equality and emancipation, this mobilization also seeks to constrain women’s subjectivity and curtail the scope of their emancipation. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ ii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. vi Dedication........................................................................................................................... vii Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 1 Communist party ideology in post-colonial India..........................................................................................................1 Textually mediated communist discourse: Research focus and analytical tools..........................................17 Chapter One: A Genealogy of the Politicization of Women in Bengal.................................... 40 The bhadramahilaa steps out of the antahpur ............................................................................................................43 The Sushilaa archetype ...........................................................................................................................................................50 The bhadramahilaa’s own voice .........................................................................................................................................54 The politics of the ghar (home) and the baahir (world)..........................................................................................61 The emergence of mass-based women’s organizations............................................................................................69 Women for a sustha nation state........................................................................................................................................80 Chapter Two: Simple Solutions through Socialism................................................................ 86 Teaching socialism to women ..............................................................................................................................................90 The apparatus of socialism and womanhood in the service of the biopolitics ..............................................99 Family as the fulcrum of the state...................................................................................................................................109 Power in exchange for freedom........................................................................................................................................119 Chapter Three: Macro-Motherhood and Social Eugenics in the Name of a ‘Sustha’ Nation- State ................................................................................................................................. 130 Social eugenics through state selection........................................................................................................................131 Macro-Motherhood and the ethic of tyaag .................................................................................................................144 Class, morality, citizenship and rape..............................................................................................................................155 Chapter Four: Three Interlocked Issues: Body, Sexuality and Cultural Degeneration ........... 161 The dress code and the female body...............................................................................................................................162 A 19 th century flashback.......................................................................................................................................................169 History repeats itself..............................................................................................................................................................177 The right of the left.................................................................................................................................................................183 Cultural degeneration, sex and sexuality.....................................................................................................................187 ‘I am a woman’ for building the state (rashtra).......................................................................................................199 Chapter Five: Sukhee Grihokon and Selfless Women.......................................................... 204 The everyday world of peasant wives............................................................................................................................207 Textual strategies, ideologies and utopias ..................................................................................................................213 Mrinal speaks in a different voice....................................................................................................................................222 The search for an alternative subjectivity...................................................................................................................225 iv Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 229 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 245 Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 258 Appendix A..................................................................................................................................................................................258 Appendix B..................................................................................................................................................................................259 Appendix C..................................................................................................................................................................................262 v Acknowledgements I am indebted to my supervisor Dr. Thomas Kemple and my supervisory committee members Dr. Dawn Currie, Dr. Mandakranta Bose and Dr. Renisa Mawani, who advised and supported me at various stages of this project. In particular, I highly appreciate their encouragement, generosity, criticism and friendship. In the course of my research, I received financial support from UBC’s Graduate fellowship and Walter
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