Soans, Sonia (2016) Gendered narratives of alcohol/drug consumption and violent nationalism in India. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University. Downloaded from: https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/618224/ Usage rights: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriva- tive Works 4.0 Please cite the published version https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk GENDERED NARRATIVES OF ALCOHOL/DRUG CONSUMPTION AND VIOLENT NATIONALISM IN INDIA S SOANS PhD 2016 this page intentionally left blank 2 GENDERED NARRATIVES OF ALCOHOL/DRUG CONSUMPTION AND VIOLENT NATIONALISM IN INDIA SONIA SOANS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research Institute of Health & Social Change the Manchester Metropolitan University July 2016 3 4 Dedication This PhD is dedicated to all the scholars who have not been able to finish their degrees. To those who have had to give up half way, your hard work is not forgotten. I would like to share this degree with you. To the women who have resisted and braved all odds to educate themselves. Those pathbreakers who have acted on conviction and not convention. To all the people who encouraged me every day to write this thesis and helped make me feel at home in Manchester and the United Kingdom. Your kindness makes this degree all the more valuable. 5 this page intentionally left blank 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................................... 17 Abstract......................................................................................................... 19 PART I - Introduction and Method....................................................................... 21 1. Introduction................................................................................................. 23 1.1. Background................................................................................................... 23 1.2. Women’s sexuality........................................................................................ 28 1.3. Why use cinema............................................................................................ 30 1.4. The power of mental illness.......................................................................... 31 1.5. Social expression of the ‘disease’................................................................. 31 1.6. Chapter overview.......................................................................................... 32 1.7. Manchester connection................................................................................. 34 1.8. Conclusion.................................................................................................... 35 2. Methodology................................................................................................ 37 2.1. Introduction to methodology......................................................................... 37 2.2. Eclectic methodology.................................................................................... 41 2.2.1 Methodological resistance............................................................................ 43 2.3. Why visual methods...................................................................................... 44 2.3.1 Bollywood centricism................................................................................... 45 2.4. Feminist methodology.................................................................................. 46 2.4.1 Subversion of power..................................................................................... 47 2.4.2 The female gaze............................................................................................ 48 2.4.3 Necessity of a feminist methodology............................................................ 50 2.5. Intersectionality............................................................................................. 53 7 2.6. Indian psychology......................................................................................... 57 2.7. Discourse analysis......................................................................................... 59 2.8. Thematic analysis.......................................................................................... 63 2.9. Why representation matters.......................................................................... 67 2.10. Conclusion.................................................................................................... 70 3. Mapping out India...................................................................................... 71 3.1. Indian nationalism and other maladies......................................................... 72 3.1.1 Saffronisation and its impact........................................................................ 77 3.1.2 Apartheid in the Northeast............................................................................ 81 Figure 1: Protests outside Assam Rifles Headquarters............................................. 84 3.1.3 Sanskritization............................................................................................... 84 3.2. Who is a minority in India?.......................................................................... 87 3.3. Decentralising knowledge............................................................................. 91 4. History and the Trajectory of Addiction................................................... 95 4.1. The evolving history of inebriation............................................................... 95 4.1.1 Invention of the disease................................................................................ 96 4.1.2 Changing notions of addictive substances.................................................... 98 4.1.3 Pre alcoholism............................................................................................... 99 4.1.4 The opium wars........................................................................................... 100 4.2. History in India........................................................................................... 100 4.2.1 Cultural denial............................................................................................. 100 Figure 2: Yahoo answers - western culture............................................................. 103 4.3. Biologised identities.................................................................................... 111 4.4. Gendered expressions of alcohol and drug consumption............................ 112 4.4.1 Limitations of diagnosis.............................................................................. 113 8 4.4.2 What happens when women party hard?.................................................... 118 Figure 3: Guardian comments - Gujarat alcohol ban.............................................. 121 4.5. Addiction in the present day....................................................................... 121 4.5.1 Classification of addiction.......................................................................... 121 4.5.2 Models of addiction.................................................................................... 124 4.5.3 The language of addiction........................................................................... 129 4.5.4 Work Hard Party Harder............................................................................. 131 4.5.5 Resisting biological explanations............................................................... 134 4.6. Changing nature of substances.................................................................... 135 4.7. Conclusion.................................................................................................. 137 4.7.1 Postscript..................................................................................................... 137 PART II - The Bollywood Connection................................................................. 139 5. Indian Cinema........................................................................................... 141 5.1. History of Indian cinema and its impact..................................................... 141 5.1.1 Early origins of Indian cinema, Indian/Hindi size, influence..................... 142 5.1.2 The use of Hindi in cinema......................................................................... 144 5.1.3 Features of Hindi films............................................................................... 144 5.1.4 Technological changes................................................................................ 145 5.1.5 Market for Bollywood cinema (India and the rest of the world)................ 146 5.1.6 Parallel cinema and alternatives to popular cinema.................................... 148 5.2. Cinema and the nation................................................................................ 149 5.2.1 Birth of the nation....................................................................................... 150 5.2.2 Decadence and the nation........................................................................... 151 5.2.3 Visual mythology........................................................................................ 153 5.2.4 Medium of instruction................................................................................. 155 9 5.3. Gender sexuality and cinema.....................................................................