Homing female figures in English literatures of the Indian subcontinent: a trans/national focus on homeland, body and return

Abstract

In postcolonial and diaspora literatures of the Indian subcontinent, the idea of home is explored in terms of multiplicity and fluidity alongside social, cultural and political rootedness. The critical questions and arguments that drive this research initiative engage with late twentieth century literatures in English from the Indian subcontinent and the transnational imagination of home in relation to developing female character arcs. This research endeavour would examine women and their relationship with national, cultural and diasporic affiliations of home while navigating discussions on migration – dispersal and return – within and beyond the nation.

Tracing home through female characters in late twentieth century Indian and transnational writers’ narratives, the chapters in my thesis explore national, global and cosmopolitan conflicts of border crossing. This relationship develops in various ways: Firstly, while the imagination of the homeland, primarily catered to the male gaze, marginalises women and sidelines them to the periphery of the nation’s body politic, it also exclusively allegorises and deifies them as custodians of belief systems. They are disparaged due to their economic and political backgrounds and culturally ostracised due to rigorous societal norms. However, their ability to give birth and continue with the humankind remains essential to the formation of a collective such as a nation. Women are borne by other women and raised to become emblematic and authentic portrayals of national customs and traditions, thus, occupying the public as well as the private realm. Secondly, women’s historical relation to the larger political space of the nation is often challenged by marginalised and subaltern narratives in which their bodies develop as prominent figures of home. Finally, homes have been associated with women; Their presence as the carriers and upholders of tradition and culture in diasporic journeys across nations contribute to the ongoing process of ‘being written for’ and ‘writing back’ to a point of origin, hope and nostalgia. These interventions have developed into a major counteractive discourse in postcolonial and transnational literary traditions. This extensive study of the oeuvre of late twentieth century literatures in English emerging from the Indian subcontinent critically analyses female characters in the literary engagements of the period highlighting narratives and counter-narratives by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Mahāśvetā Debī, Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai.

The conclusions that my research draws aid in the exploration of gender relations and the transnational and dialectic associations of home in the late twentieth century literary corpus of the Indian subcontinent. My findings examine the relationship between women and nation deploying discussions on the fixity of home, the corporeality of female bodies, ethnic and cultural nostalgia, and migrant and diasporic return. Elucidating various power structures – narrative, space, culture and identity, it sets up a dialogue between female characters, narratives and contemporary concerns of existence, journey and belonging that span the idea of the nation.