Aalborg Universitet Unbinding Bodies and Desires Re-searching the Home, the World and the In-between in Nara-Naree, the Only Bengali Journal on Health, Hygiene, Sex (1939-1950) Banerjee, Sutanuka DOI (link to publication from Publisher): 10.5278/vbn.phd.socsci.00035 Publication date: 2015 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA): Banerjee, S. (2015). Unbinding Bodies and Desires: Re-searching the Home, the World and the In-between in Nara-Naree, the Only Bengali Journal on Health, Hygiene, Sex (1939-1950). Aalborg Universitetsforlag. 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Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: September 24, 2021 UNBINDING BODIES AND DESIRES UNBINDING BODIES UNBINDING BODIES AND DESIRES RE-SEARCHING THE HOME, THE WORLD AND THE INBETWEEN IN NARA-NAREE, THE ONLY BENGALI JOURNAL ON HEALTH, HYGIENE, SEX (1939-1950) BY SUTANUKA BANERJEE DISSERTATION SUBMITTED 2014 SUTANUKA BANERJEE SUTANUKA UNBINDING BODIES AND DESIRES RE-SEARCHING THE HOME, THE WORLD AND THE IN- BETWEEN IN NARA-NAREE, THE ONLY BENGALI JOURNAL ON HEALTH, HYGIENE, SEX (1939-1950) by Sutanuka Banerjee Dissertation submitted Thesis submitted: November 6, 2014 PhD supervisor: Associate Prof. Pauline Stoltz, Aalborg University Prof. Isabel Jiménez-Lucena, University of Málaga PhD committee: Birte Siim, Professor Aalborg University, Denmark Marta Postigo Asenjo, University of Málaga, Spain Helle Rydström, Lund University, Sweden PhD Series: PhD Series, Faculty of Social Sciences Aalborg University ISSN: 2246-1256 ISBN: 978-87-7112-186-5 Published by: Aalborg University Press Skjernvej 4A, 2nd floor DK – 9220 Aalborg Ø Phone: +45 99407140 [email protected] forlag.aau.dk © Copyright: Sutanuka Banerjee Printed in Denmark by Rosendahls, 2014 This thesis intends to meet the requirement for obtaining the PhD degree from Aalborg University and Malaga University. I hereby declare that the thesis and its contents have not previously been submitted for assessment. III UNBINDING BODIES AND DESIRES To The ‘citizens of the world’ who keep stretching the boundaries of knowledge IV FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The time we live from birth to death is the only real history we experience; what we hear of what happened before and of what can happen later are just stories. The only space we experience is the land we live in, work in or travel to. What we hear of other lands is other people’s imagination. Devdutt Pattanaik, “Frog in the well”, Times of India, 2011 ‘Kupa manduka’ is a Sanskrit phrase for the frog in the well that imagines the well, its home, to be the whole world. Ideas travel across geographical borders and in my mobility period I have come across ideas that keep on intersecting through porous boundaries. These intellectual and cultural exchanges have helped me to grow internally and individually. Moreover, this research has enriched my self- realization which is an endless and continuous process. This project has taken me through continuous shiftings and mobilities where the local and the global worlds are increasingly converging. Here I would like to take the opportunity to extend my heartiest regards to all the professors who took immense pains to provide a wholesome vision of gender by ingeniously weaving different theoretical perspectives and gender discourses across divergent disciplines. It is my immense pleasure to acknowledge the support and help I have received over the years. I am highly grateful and indebted to my supervisor, Associate Professor Pauline Stoltz for her careful reading, critical comments, guidance and practical tips which helped me in structuring the drafts and shaping the cosmopolitan mindset. The historical scholarship of Prof. Isabel Jimenez Lucena has motivated me to look for the missing transnational links which are hidden in the dust of time. They both believed in my project and I have learnt a lot from them. I am also deeply thankful to Prof. Birte Siim for the occasional and valuable boosting that she continued to provide. It has been a great V UNBINDING BODIES AND DESIRES opportunity to meet Prof. Jane Parpat who enriched my mind with her insightful notes and inspiring conversation. I was lucky to present my work at FREIA seminars and receive fruitful and constructive comments from Helene Pristed Nielsen and others. Thanks to the teachers of the whole FREIA and COMID groups for our occasional meetings and exchanging cordial smiles. I warmly thank Supriya Samanta, Sasiwimon Khomeung, Karina Torp Moller, Abdul Hanan Zakaria Lassen, Peter Ziun Zhang, Ishmat Mahuda, Aparna Purushottam, Saki Ichihara Formsgard and Julie Holt Pedersen, with whom I shared bits of worries about the development of the project. I also fondly remember the networks of FREIA and COMID consisting of PhD fellows from different countries who participated in transnational mobility and shared a host of knowledge. The Nordic NIAS council has been a growing platform of international scholars for exchanging ideas. I have also been greatly influenced by the gender and sexuality classes in Malaga University and my gratitude goes to the professors, especially, Marta Postigo Asenjo, Isabel Mª Morales Gil, Carmen Cortés Zaborras, Isabel Jiménez Lucena, Mª José Ruiz Somavilla and Lidia Taillefer, who taught us critical issues on gender, body, health and sexuality without any inhibitions. I duly acknowledge Ashok Upadhyay associated with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences and the great assistance provided by the Women’s Studies Centre at Jadavpur University and the National Library in Kolkata. They have a very rich collection of rare books and critical works. I must extend my indebtedness to Swapan Mukhopadhyay who is the proud possessor of an extraordinary collection and the other second-hand book sellers who are expanding the circle of precious knowledge in exchange of a few rupees. I am grateful to the departmental, administrative and technical staff at Aalborg University and International Relations staff at Malaga University for their help in manifold ways. Finally, huge thanks to Sudip, my life partner, for his unconditional love and companionship. He made me smile through thick and thin, VI stood by me against all odds and always supported me in whatever path I chose. My heartiest regard goes to my parents, who have remained my mentors throughout my life and without whom I would not have been able to be what I am. I fondly remember the refreshing presence of my sister, Swastika, the “little woman” and childhood companion who is my trusted conspirator in breaking social conventions. I would like to extend my regards to all my teachers at school, colleges and universities who made me to grow up into a thinking individual and taught me to continuously question and challenge myself. Finally, I would like to thank all the people who are directly and indirectly linked with my project and have helped me in exploring the meaning of cosmopolitan connections. I would like to end this note with a tribute to the ‘world poet’, social reformer, humanist and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, who conjured up the image of the New Woman or Nabina in his creations to challenge the gender boundaries and traditional social norms of his time. He was a globe trotter who embarked on an intellectual odyssey and believed in a common ground and equal terms of fellowship, “where knowledge flows in two streams – from the East and from the West” (qtd. in Kundu, 2010). VII ABSTRACT In Bengal and across the world, the early twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in sexual reform through sexual science. Transnational discourses on conjugal science and birth control also became widespread and connections between Western advocates and Bengali experts asserted a new vision of modernity in the context of changing notions of the female body and sexuality. During the interwar period, two distinctive figures, the Modern Girl and the New Woman, became prevalent in public discourses across the globe, and debates over the legitimacy and respectability of their social and sexual autonomy raged. So far, there has been no study of the global interconnection in the overlapping features of modern women in Bengal and how they were interlaced within the intertextual discourses on modern sexual reform around the world. The purpose of this study is to understand the ways in which Bengali womanhood was portrayed in the vernacular magazine Nara-Naree from 1939 to 1950. The overall aim of the project is to highlight the key issues regarding marriage and reproduction and the salient features of new womanhood, including gender equality, chastity, divorce, education, hygiene, birth control and the women’s movement. This thesis seeks to draw attention to the paradoxes of modernity that emerged when the Western encounter in Bengal gave rise to new attitudes, behaviours and values in the twentieth century and brought new choices, challenges and alternatives in the social arrangements of the gender system. To address these problematic issues, I posed two research questions: i.