When we are referring post colonial study we are asking to watch videos of Nigeran writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and write our learning output. this task given as a sunday reading activity assign by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.
About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichieborn 15 September 1977) is a Nigeran writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction.She was described in The Times literatry supplement as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [which] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature" particularly in her second home, the united states.
Adichie has written the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of yellow sun (2006), and the short story collection The thing around your neck (2009), and the book-length essay we should all be feminists (2014). Her most recent books are A feminist manifesto in Fifteen suggestion i (2017), Zikora (2020) and Notes on Grief(2021).
In 2008, she was awarded a MacArthar Genius Grant She was the recipient of the Pen Pinter Prize in 2018
She has delivered two landmark TED talks: her 2009 TED Talk The Danger of A Single Story and her 2012 TEDx Euston talk We Should All Be Feminists, which started a worldwide conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014.
Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, was published in March 2017.
1.About Dangers of Single story
In the first video of dangers of single she is talking about that she is inspired from African writers. her character of single story is white and also with blue eyed. she is also reveled that her characters of story are like her self.
Some examples from Literature
she is taking some examples from literature like Jane eyre, Bartha Mason ,Charlotte Bronte are there. she is also referred power. Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.
Referance of palestinian poet: Mourid Barghouti
The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that
if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and to start with, "secondly." Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely different story.
Start the story with the failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story
2.Why we all should feminists?
in the second video she talks about her friend okolama's opinion she is first person who told chimananda nagozi as a feminist. here she talks about that men and women are different .she also talks about gender matters in all over the world and ofcourse for this gender biases society plays very important. if it can be said that society became barrier for women or girls.
Girls are always taught that become good material after marriage. she should follow all the rules and be A Home maker for her family. there is many feminist movies or ads and also serials are there but ultimately women are showing as good wife material instead of good employee.
Chimamanda Ngozi also talks about there is difference between raising girls and boys this idea is very truly showed in one movieBandrinath ki Dulhaniadirected by Shashank Khaitan.
in the later part she talks about masculinity she talking about that if boy and girl are going outside the boy is always expected to pay money to prove his masculinity. in the rover by Aphra behn there is sword as a symbol of masculinity. in short boy have to always prove his masculinity.
3.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addresses Harvard's Class of 2018
Above all else do not lie.” r don’t lie too often, which is really to say tell the truth. But lying, the word, the idea, the act has such political potency in America today, but it somehow feels more apt. Above all else do not lie.
It is hard to tell ourselves the truth about our failures, our fragilities, our uncertainties. It is hard to tell ourselves that maybe we haven’t done the best that we can. It is hard to tell ourselves the truth of our emotions that maybe what we feel is hurt rather than anger, that maybe it is time to close the chapter of a relationship and walk away. And yet when we do, we are the better off for it.
Kamala Surayya, also known as Suraiyya or Madhavikutty, was a noteworthy Indian English poet and litterateur and a leading Malayalam novelist from Kerala, India. Her short tales and autobiography are her most popular works in Kerala, but her English output, published under Kamala Das, is known for its fiery poetry and graphic autobiography. She gained a lot of appreciation due to her honest presentation on female sexuality, free of any sense of shame, which gave her work a power that distinguished her as a generation's iconoclast. She died on May 31, 2009, at the age of 75, in a Pune
Movies Based on Kamala Das's Storyline
1. Neermaathalathinte Pookkal
2. Mazha
3. Aami
4. Kadhaveedu
Some Popular Books of Kamala Das
1. Ente Katha
2. The Old Playhouse and Other Poems
3. The Descendants
4. Wages of Love
I don't know politics but I know the names
Of those in power, and can repeat them like
Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru.
I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar,
I speak three languages, write in
Two, dream in one.
Don't write in English, they said, English is
Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Every one of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak,
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.
It is half English, halfIndian, funny perhaps, but it is honest,
It is as human as I am human, don't
You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my
Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing
Is to crows or roaring to the lions, it
Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is
Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and
Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech
Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the
Incoherent mutterings of the blazing
Funeral pyre. I was child, and later they
Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs
Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair.
WhenI asked for love, not knowing what else to ask
For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the
Bedroom and closed the door, He did not beat me
But my sad woman-body felt so beaten.
The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me.
I shrank Pitifully.
Then … I wore a shirt and my
Brother's trousers, cut my hair short and ignored
My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl
Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers. Don't sit
On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.
Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better
Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to
Choose a name, a role. Don't play pretending games.
Don't play at schizophrenia or be a
Nympho. Don't cry embarrassingly loud when
Jilted in love … I met a man, loved him. Call
Him not by any name, he is every man
Who wants. a woman, just as I am every
Woman who seeks love. In him . . . the hungry haste
Of rivers, in me . . . the oceans' tireless
Waiting. Who are you, I ask each and everyone,
The answer is, it is I. Anywhere and,
Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself I
In this world, he is tightly packed like the
Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely
Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns,
It is I who laugh, it is I who make love
And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying
With a rattle in my throat. I am sinner,
I am saint. I am the beloved and the
Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no
Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I
About Poem: An Introduction
In ‘An Introduction,’ Das explores her complex emotions regarding the system controlling her life and the lives of countless suffering women. She also has the experience to back up her assertions about freedom and oppression as she played a critical role in the establishment of the Indian feminist movement.
In the first section of ‘An Introduction,’ the speaker begins by comparing her knowledge of politicians to the days of the week and months of the year. Although she does not have a firm grasp on politics itself, those in power have remained in her mind. This shows their power to be much greater than their role should allow. The first of these she is able to recall is “Nehru,” who served as India’s first prime minister after the withdrawal of the British.
After these opening lines that set the scene, the speaker moves on to describe her own being. She is “Indian” and she is “very brown.” Lastly, she is from Malabar in southwest India. These are the basics of her life, but of course not everything.
This line of An Introduction is interesting as she is placing her own body in one of the categories she rebelled against in the first stanza. It is due to this simplification of a woman as nothing more than a body that led her to marriage at sixteen. She also places blame on her own body for leading her to this place. Her distinctly female parts, “breasts and womb” are a crushing weight on her life. The pressure placed on her by her husband and by her family led to an emotional and mental shrinking. It was a “Pitiful” process. But it ended.
t is by this final name that the poet, Kamala Das, came to be known and is still called.Das added another few reminders on behalf of the “categorizers.” She shouldn’t “play pretending games” or “cry embarrassingly loud.” Her role as a woman is supposed to be meek, quiet, and contained.
She goes on to describe a time in which she met and loved a man. This person is referred to as “man,” he is not named. This strips him of some of the agency he is so in control of in the next lines. Additionally, the name is of little importance as he is meant to represent every man in the world who uses women as he pleases.
she’s a part of there are “I” men everywhere she looks. A person of this nature is able to go and “Drink… at twelve” and stay in “hotels of strange towns.” As the lines continue the division between the speaker and the “I” is blurred. Eventually, a reader comes to understand that she is trying to come to terms with her own independence and identity as both “saint” and “sinner.”
She is trapped between her own need for free life and the world which tries to keep her contained. The final statement is one of protest and resistance. Das states that she has “Aches” which belong to no one but herself. She too can be “I.”
She continues to describe language and the role it plays in her life by saying that she is judged for writing in English.It is not her “mother-tongue.” Whenever she is criticized for how she speaks and writes she feels as if she is alone. There is no one, not her friends or cousins, who back her up. They are critics “Every one.”
She directs the next line at this group, asking them why they care what she speaks. She feels a deep connection to the words she uses and how, through “distortions,” her language can only be defined as her own.
In the next twelve lines of ‘An Introduction,’ the speaker goes on to describe herself as “half English, half Indian.” She sees the humor in this combination and acknowledges that fact as it is “honest.” This seems to be one of the most important parts of her, a desire for authenticity and honesty. Her identity, as seen through her voice is “human” just as she is human. It should be held under that single defining category and no other.
Her unhappiness is defined in the next section of lines of ‘An Introduction’ and is directly related to a need for freedom. When she was young she “asked for love,” because she didn’t know what else to want. This ended with her marriage at sixteen and the closing of a bedroom door.she’s a part of there are “I” men everywhere she looks. A person of this nature is able to go and “Drink… at twelve” and stay in “hotels of strange towns.” As the lines continue the division between the speaker and the “I” is blurred. Eventually, a reader comes to understand that she is trying to come to terms with her own independence and identity as both “saint” and “sinner.”
She is trapped between her own need for free life and the world which tries to keep her contained. The final statement is one of protest and resistance. Das states that she has “Aches” which belong to no one but herself. She too can be “I.”
My Own writing(Paragraph)
here now i write about one paragraph. which is my own version i have borrowed it from second stanza.
Don't write in English, they said, English is
Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Every one of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak,
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.
if it is taken as patriarchy voice then it can be said that women has no right to choose her own language or her own view point to talk individually. she is supressed by her realtives or her parents. she is told that you are girl you should know your limits don't be so stubborn. you have to let it be or let it go. if a women raise a voice against her family then people say that she is so heartless woman. because of this type of behaviour of society women can not raise voice against society or a family
There is one movie which is support patriarchy and the women is suppressed by society. so she can not raise voice against her family. Especially her in laws.here i attach video of one movie clip JAYESH BHAI JORDAR''. in which it is shown that women are suppressed by the society. she was not able take her own decision because of society.
Marxism is one of the most significant theories and a philosophy that has contributed much to the modern world. German Philosopher Karl Marx helped the working class to question the injustice enforced upon them through their wages, life style and oppression. Marxism, for many, is a beginning of progress and evolution. Marx believed that instilling his ideology in the minds of people like him, would one day make the world, an ideal classless society.
Definition
Marxism is a social, economic and political philosophy that analyses the impact of the ruling class on the laborers, leading to uneven distribution of wealth and privileges in the society. It stimulates the workers to protest the injustice. The theory was formulated by Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels in their work, ‘The Communist Manifesto’. it was a pamphlet they created during the age of Imperialism, rooting from their own struggles as members of the proletariat lot. According to Marx, History demonstrates the existence of class struggle centuries earlier.
Goals of Marxism
1. In the Marxist literary analysis, the evolving history of humankind, of its social groupings and interrelations, of its institutions, and of its ways of thinking are largely determined by the changing mode of its “material production”— that is, of its overall economic organization for producing and distributing material goods.
2. Changes in the fundamental mode of material production effect changes in the class structure of a society, establishing in each era dominant and subordinate classes that engage in a struggle for economic, political, and social advantage.
3. Human consciousness is constituted by an ideology—that is, the beliefs, values, and ways of thinking and feeling through which human beings perceive, and by recourse to which they explain, what they take to be reality. An ideology is, in complex ways, the product of the position and interests of a particular class. In any historical era, the dominant ideology embodies, and serves to legitimize and perpetuate, the interests of the dominant economic and social class.
Key Principles of Marxism
There are two obvious divisions in the Capitalist society – the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariats. The exploitation of the latter is the essence of Marxist ideology.
The Bourgeoisie enjoyed the power to control the toiling masses’ wages and work, leaving them vulnerable to even replacements in the future. The former had access to modern equipment and tools to make work easier and quicker, leaving the laborer with low wages and adding more profits to themselves.
now, there is some movies and serials also literary text which support this idea of marxism
1.Hairy Ape: Eugene o' neil
in this literary text there is protagonist Yank and he is belongs to labour class or poor class. on the other hand there is midred douglas who is belongs to aristocrat class.the marxist idea can be observe in this.
2.Pride and Prejudice
Social class conflict has been an issue throughout time and will likely proceed to be one for decades to come. Even “…the criterion in Islam is not [based on] color or social status” (Olajuwon Year). The faith is more focused on being a respectable individual. Unfortunately, class conflict is commonly the barrier of human interaction between high and middle classes with that of the lower classes. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice portrays how conflict is a pivotal theme throughout the story. Social classes demonstrate how one’s treatment of others is occasionally based on another’s family name or status in society. Throughout the novel, characters develop distorted opinions about others contributing to plot conflict. However, love often overcomes social classes in relationships in which are based on genuine love rather than on what society has labeled a couple. Thus, Austen triggers an eagerness to test which is stronger – love towards a person or the love of social status and vanity – in Pride and Prejudice.
3. Laadla(Movie)
There is another movie laadla. in which heroine shridevi belongs to aristocrat class and hero belongs to lower class.The headstrong owner of a factory, Sheetal, marries Raju, the union leader of the factory, to quell his spirit and teach him a lesson. In the process, she ends up learning a few lessons herself.
This blog is as a response of thinking activity about various theories like Ecocriticism, Feminism Queer theory with applying some examples of it. which is given as a task by Dilip Barad sir.so first i started with Feminism theory.
Definition of Feminism
As per caren Offen Feminism as a tradition of protest against male domination has had. a relational as well as an individualistic variant. It also makes a. strong argument for seeing the relational as the larger and more. significant of the two strands, certainly the one with the longer.
Waves of Feminism
First-wave feminism refers to an extended period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United statesfirst wave of feminism activism By the 1920s, women had won the right to vote in most European countries and in North America. At around the same time, women became more active in communist, socialist and social democratic parties because increasing numbers of women began to work outside the home in factories and offices. Women were first allowed to go to university in the early 20th century, having both a career and a family
Second-wave feminism refers to the period of activity in the early 1960s and lasting through the late 1980s.second wave of feminism aimed to achieve ‘women’s liberation’, Liberal feminists wanted better equality laws and reform of institutions such as schools, churches and the media. Radical feminists argued that the root cause of women’s inequality is patriarchy: men, as a group, oppress women. They also focused on violence against women by men and started to talk about violence in the family, and rape. Socialist feminists argued that it is a combination of patriarchy and capitalism that causes women’s oppression.
Third wave feminism actively uses media and pop culture to promote its ideas and to run activities, for example by publishing blogs or e-zines. It focuses on bringing feminism closer to the people’s daily lives. The main issues that third wave feminists are concerned about include: sexual harassment, domestic violence, the pay gap between men and women, eating disorders and body image, sexual and reproductive rights, honour crimes and female genital mutilation
Some literary works of feminism
Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
Olive Schreiner's Women and Labour (1911)
John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Woman (1869)
Religion always try to tie a women. it also give person fear of sin, it also give an idea of do fast or some veneration on some special occasion. especially on the occasion of karva chauth. women are doing fast for her husband. this matter of religion also seen in the case of zaira vasim she take exit from bollywood, because of religion. there is also another example which was of anghana bhosle who is also exit television industry she is working in most famous serial anupmaa becuse of religion. She have to take exit the from religion.
There is some Ads who is known as feminist Ads . but in the ad it is also shown that to go outside woman have to take permission for to go outside or to go for work.
There are some ads in which it is shown that woman is head or boss in the office but ultimately she is shown as working in kitchen and there is no chance for woman to become sad even if she is tired from her work.
there is some movies also which is known as feministic movies there is thappad in this movie the protagonist tries to raise her voice against male dominance society.
in the thappad movie therev is dialougue of thoda bardaasht karna sikhna chahiye auraton ko. this dialougue suggest that this movie is about male dominance as well as it also gives idea about as a woman they have to tolrate violence of male. it is also suggest that woman always have to take permission from their beloved or their parents.
there is also a ME TOO Movement which is also consider as feministic movement. here i shared page link of wikipedia in which there is about the movement.
Now if we look at feministic criticism there is in our society also. The parents want an educated girl for marriage but if there is question of job they does not allow it .if we take an example of taarak mehta ka ooltah chasmah than it is seen that all women are well educated but they have to take permission from there husband even if they want to go for shopping than also they ask for permission. The most iconic dialougue for permission is of Daya. She always said Tappu ke papa ko puchna padega. This dialougue suggest dominance of male in society.
there is also one movie Shaadi mein Zaroor Aana in which heroine is more educated then hero in begining but when she asked for job and run away from the home for her future this is become issue for her inlaws as well as for the hero also. so this is the feministic criticism. there are many other movie which is promote feminism but there are mistakes also and that is if you are women you should know your limits as well as your ethics also
This blog is response to thinking activity about Final Solution . which is given as a task by Vaidehi Hariyani Ma'am. as an activity she has given us several questions realted this unit. here i have wrote about it.
About Author:
Mahesh Dattani is an Indian director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as Final Solutions, Dance Like a Man, Bravely Fought the Queen, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara, Thirty Days in September and The Big Fat City. He is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Mahesh Dattani was born in to Banglore to Gujrati parents. He went to Baldwin Boys High school and then went on to join St. Joseph college in Banglore.
Dattani is a graduate in History, Economics and Political Science. He completed his post-graduate in Marketing and Advertising Management because he wanted to become a Copywriter. He worked with the Bangalore Little Theatre, where his first role was in Utpal Dutt's Surya Shikhar.
After reading Edward Albee's play Who's afraid of virginia woolf? early in his life, he became interested in writing. He was also influenced by Gujarati playwright Madhu ry's Kumarni Agashi and developed an interest in play writing.
Playwrights
Where There's a Will (1988)
Dance Like a Man (1989)
Bravely Fought the Queen (1991)
Final Solutions (1993)
Do The Needful
On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (1998)
Seven Circles Round The Fire (Radio play for BBC) (Seven Steps around the Fire) (1998)
Final Solutions was written and performed in 1993, a period of high tension and violence in urban
India. The play grew in specific context as Dattani responded to the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
Dattani‟s
social consciousness led him to address the contemporary social issue of religious communalism to advocate
communal harmony. He tries to convey that there are no solutions to this problem except for that of acceptance
and empathy for each other.
Final Solutions opens with the image of five masked individuals dressed in black. Dattani has named
them as Mob/Chorus. Each member has two masks one is of Hindu and other of Muslim. They remain on the
top of a large crescent shaped ramp for most of the time in the play. Below the ramp is the home of Gandhis, a
middle class family, in present day, Amargaon, Gujarat. The Gandhi family comprises of the elderly surivivor of
the partition of India and Pakistan, Hardika, who was earlier known as Daksha, her son Ramnik, her daughter in
law, Aruna and her grand-daughter Smita. On another level of the stage is Daksha‟s room in 1948. Thus the play
is into three spaces one, the mob, two, the Gandhi family and three, the memory of Daksha. At various points
of time these three separate worlds interact and overlap with each other.
Final Solutions is situated with a long history as it deals with religious communalism, which is also one
of the the very important national concerns which have problematized the peace of nation for over a century.
questions:
1.What is the significance of subtitle the final solution?
First of all there is no final solution of communal riots. because as it is seen in the movie that Hindus are blamed by muslims and muslims were blamed by hindus. this play is also written when india get an independence there were communal riots.in this play the character of javed and bobby are killed by hindu corus.so there are some scenes in the movie by that we can observe that there is no final solution of communal riots.
to support this answer there is also one serial which is based on this idea Kyon Utthe Dil chhod Aaye which is broadcast on Sony TV here i linked that video.
2.Do you Think Mahesh Dattani's final solution make any significant change in society?
According to me not really because there is same situation which was before. there was no change in the Behviour of people . it is shown in the movie that cap is symbol of religion. now a days it is also happened. There is some ads was made in today's time but behaviour of people has not change.
3.The movie came up with diffrent symbols and colours write about two symbols which caught your attention what does it signifies?
The movie has many symbols like Diary of Daksha, cap, Masks and many others are there.
Caps:
in the movie there is caps. caps are used as a religion symbols because if you are muslim you have to wear a cap by the cap the people identify you are belong to muslim community.
Masks:
we have two types of masks hindu and muslims the masks put us in particular religion, identity and also it suggest that from which caste are you belonging.
