The Nation and Its Discontents : a Critique Of
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THE NATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS: A CRITIQUE OF NATIONALISM IN SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE By NIVEDITA MAJUMDAR A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2003 FOR MA AND BABA WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS while pursuing a doctoral degree, has I am certain that I am not the only one who, now, wondered more than once if and when this dissertation will ever be completed. So it gives immense being able finally to see the light at the end of the tunnel so clearly, me possible. pleasure to thank the many people who have made this moment As an international student, funding was not for me a determining factor only in the this country without "last instance"--! could not have started my academic life in assistantship, the financial assistance. I thank the University of Florida for my teaching CLAS Dissertation Fellowship and the O' Ruth McQuown Scholarship. I am also grateful to the American Association of University Women for the very generous Intemafional Fellowship. encouraging advisory I was fortunate to have an extremely supportive and committee. John Leavey, my chair, has, without exception, been both generous and incisive with his input on the project. Almost all of this dissertation was written "off site" understanding. in New York, and I could not have done this without his support and Apart from the dissertation, he has also always been very giving of his time and guidance on sundry other aspects of my graduate life for which I sought his assistance. Without his support, both my experience as a graduate student at UF and this project would definitely for his have been poorer. I thank him for everything. I am also grateful to Phillip Wegner unfailing enthusiasm for this dissertation and his sharp insights on its numerous aspects. Despite our occasional differences on Jameson, our shared political outlook made the iv world at large--both many discussions with Phil-about this project and about the for her warmth, support and pleasurable and instructive. I thank Tace Hedrick dissertation. This project has greatly encouragement at every stage of the writing of this Finally, I thank Frederick Comey for benefited from her insights as a feminist scholar. committee and being kind enough to read agreeing to be the "external" member on my the dissertation at a short notice. three years in Gainesville. The Department and I look back with fondness at my lively and interesting. Special mention must fellow graduate students made my time there Wright. Our "beer and bitching" sessions be made of my office-mate-tumed-friend, Alan sustenance. The Marxist Reading during those long summer afternoons were a source of and political Group provided a much-needed space for intellectual stimulation Bisht, whose warm hospitality discussions. A special word of thanks goes to Renuka made the many visits back to Gainesville very enjoyable. fairly long tenure in the My pursuit of a doctoral degree came at the end of a from undergraduate years at academic world in New Delhi. My debt to my teachers my their credit that I have Kirorimal College, Delhi University, is immense. It is entirely to possible to do meaningful work in stuck to the discipline of English and believe that it is Kewal Arora, and Somraj Gupta--with their deep it. Among others, Badri Raina, their amazing ability to commitment to the art of teaching, their breadth of scholarship, in (potentially) the most obtuse of feel and excite interest by making the right connections tremendously texts-made the three years of studying canonical British literature a future work as a exciting and lively learning experience. As does this project, all my years of graduate scholar and teacher will have their imprint. From my subsequent five V Chakravarty and Harish Trivedi deserve studies, also at Delhi University, Shirshendu dedicated scholar himself, was very special mention. Shirshendu Chakravarty, a from entering the "unrigorous" field of encouraging of my work. He tried to dissuade me dissertation someday, I hope he postcolonial studies. If he finds it in him to read this Harish Trivedi for introducing courses in would not be too disappointed. I am grateful to otherwise a bastion of canonical British postcolonial literature and theory into what was his repeated complaints about my writing studies. His confidence in my work, as indeed have known. I thank him for his memorable abilities, has been more helpful than he could argument." comments, such as "better a wonky syntax than a wonky the kind of To my many friends over the years in Delhi, I am indebted for years at College were emotional support that sustains one over the long haul. The KM Sudipta Sarangi, Harish Damodaran, spent in the daily company of dear friends like D'Souza, Rajesh Aruna Krishnamurthy, Sajla Chawla, Manisha Mudgal, Rohan over coffee at the Mahapatra and Mazhar Aalam, among others. Our numerous sessions about everything ranging Delhi School of Economics, with earnest discussions on just not only provided me with a from politics and religion to art and sexuality, have impact on my life. It was storehouse of fond memories but have also made a concrete deciding that whatever else I might do during one such session that I remember suddenly academic world. In how many other areas of in the fixture, I would always be a part of the passions-which may our alienated modem existence can we pursue our interests and far and different part have no immediate utility-and not feel guilty about it? So now, in a life as a scholar and teacher, those initial years in the of the world, as 1 continue with my part of me. academy and the friends that made them meaningful will always be a vi has been my close friend and Then there are other friends. Aruna Krishnamurthy life at reason I applied to UF; our graduate ally for the past fifteen years. She is the main journey. Perhaps the only way of thanking Florida came at the end of a long and shared whatever else may happen, the friendship is for one's closest friends is by believing that the past few years, after I met Shakti Jaising, and over good and I do believe that. At UF developed a close and sustaining friendship. both of us moved from Gainesville, we have York City might well have been My experience in the exciting megalopolis of New Elliot PodwiU and Avis Lang. For their disturbingly lonesome if it had not been for friendship, I thank them from the bottom of affection, their generosity, their wonderful of all these friends, the essentially lonely process my heart. If it had not been for more frightening, and its completion a dissertation writing would have been for me much much less rewarding experience. been my strength. 1 thank The loving support and encouragement of my family has and my dear and delightful nephews, my brother and sister-in-law, Amitav and Archana, vexed by the question of how his Babu and Tabu, for all their love. Babu has long been him. would be relieved to know that I aunt, while an adult, could still be a student like He parents is of course have been unburdened of that dubious honor. My debt to my minuscule part of it. Their anxiety and immeasurable; I can only acknowledge a immense: it was another land, trepidation at the prospect of my departure to the US were disinterested and caring support for another world. Despite that, they provided the same they had at every other step of my my plans for departure, and in the years since then, as pride at the completion of this project that, life. It is the anticipation of their pleasure and more than anything else, has made me plod on and do the job. vii Vivek Chibber, I should not try to To my best friend and fellow traveler, grow with each passing day. For his acknowledge my debt but simply accept that it will a stronger his pleasure at all my achievements, I am love, his confidence in my capacities, he has been a part of it from its initial and perhaps a better person. As for this project, bibliography. Had it not been for him, this conceptualization to the final formatting of the been much poorer, and my life much less dissertation, if written at all, would have Ananya, who was bom less than three meaningful. And finally there is our daughter, world of this dissertation. In the deadline-free months before I finished writing her arrival made me work much harder and faster dissertation writing, the anticipation of nights and wakeful After her birth, in the blur of sleepless than I would have otherwise. All friends had warned to get the last few pages written. my days, I had to find the time physical strain, my forgotten to menUon that, despite all the me of this. And yet they had from her. So here's to the hope that someday world would light up at the sight of a smile I could have done it better. she reads this and lets me know how viii 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS gage * ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER 1 1 INTRODUCTION 2 NATIONALIZING THE WOMAN: NATION AND GENDER IN TAGORE'S THE HOME AND THE WORLD 1 (Inter)nationalism 16 t Nations and 20 The World in The Home and the World 25 The Home in The Home and the World 27 The Political Context I 30 I Lukacs, Gandhi and Tagore ^2 Nation and Gender THE NATION AND ITS RELIGIOUS i 3 PARTITIONED COMMUNITIES: MINORITIES 51 ^1 ; Introduction 52 Communal ism and its Construction ; 55 Partition Narratives Partition Literature 57 Postcoloniality and the Politics of Religious Identity 72 82 Minorities in the Postcolonial Subcontinent COUNTRY": THE NATION AND ITS DISPOSSESSED 966 I 4 "I DON'T KNOW Gandhi vs.