This paper analyzes the pressures faced by feminists in developing countries as they craft respon... more This paper analyzes the pressures faced by feminists in developing countries as they craft responses to the sexual violence (rape) that occurs during their involvement in political struggles for liberation. After an introduction, the paper offers a theoretical framework for consideration of: 1) the nature of political shifts and strategies that enable effective feminist responses to rape to be resistance based on the empowerment of women rather than in appeals to patriarchal power bases, and 2) how feminists can reposition themselves in the face of dominant patriarchal heritages and values. The paper then examines the two short stories that informed this theoretical development, "Draupadi," by Mahasweta Devi and "Black Horse Square," by C.S. Lakshmi, both of which deal with the reactions of women activists who have suffered rape as a punishment for their political actions. In "Draupadi" the heroine responds to her rape by redirecting the social and moral definitions of shame associated with rape from herself to the perpetrators and by using her naked mutilated body as a weapon against the army officer who ordered her rape. The narrative in "Black Horse Square" revolves around the refusal of a raped activist to be used as a political symbol. The paper concludes that these stories represent an important step in the search for the development of an alternative rhetoric to represent women's struggles.
Cross readings of oral narratives of the Tebhaga leader Ila Mitra with a complex history of viole... more Cross readings of oral narratives of the Tebhaga leader Ila Mitra with a complex history of violent encounters between the East Pakistani and a tribal population bring to light a unique historical conjuncture that took shape between Santal temporal imperatives and the communist teleology in the 1950s. Ila Mitra’s articulations and determined resistance reveal a deep identification with the adivasis that runs deeper than ideological solidarity and has rarely found place in our political cultures. In the contemporary context of political crackdowns on tribal populations, the relation of political parties with the people assumes criticality. Actual political engagement across caste and tribe calls for some understanding of committed and affective processes of negotiating difference, and while there are risks involved, there are also compelling solidarities that are possible. S
The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history sch... more The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history scholarship, has made it imperative for us to reassess the role of aesthetics – and of the relationship between affect, cognition and agency - in the making of history. Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations). The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
Theorizing Fieldwork in the Humanities: Methods, Reflections, and Approaches to the Global South. Eds Shalini Puri & Debra Castillo, 2016
The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history sch... more The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history scholarship, has made it imperative for us to reassess the role of aesthetics – and of the relationship between affect, cognition and agency - in the making of history. Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations). The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
Unclaimed Harvest: An Oral History f the Tebhaga Women's Movement, 2016
The moral outrage against the injustice of the Bengal famine found an outlet in the care extended... more The moral outrage against the injustice of the Bengal famine found an outlet in the care extended by the women to the famine victims and in the taking on of responsibility to ensure their survival. Somewhere, a critical shift had taken place, from the ethic of care to a politics of care. The women saw this taking on of responsibility as a political act, and Manikuntala Sen even called it a ‘revolution’. There had clearly been a transformation of subjectivity.
The critical shift from the ethic of care to a politics of care seems to have balanced on the knife edge, where the ethic of care confronts an abyss and the only recourse is politics.
This paper analyzes the pressures faced by feminists in developing countries as they craft respon... more This paper analyzes the pressures faced by feminists in developing countries as they craft responses to the sexual violence (rape) that occurs during their involvement in political struggles for liberation. After an introduction, the paper offers a theoretical framework for consideration of: 1) the nature of political shifts and strategies that enable effective feminist responses to rape to be resistance based on the empowerment of women rather than in appeals to patriarchal power bases, and 2) how feminists can reposition themselves in the face of dominant patriarchal heritages and values. The paper then examines the two short stories that informed this theoretical development, "Draupadi," by Mahasweta Devi and "Black Horse Square," by C.S. Lakshmi, both of which deal with the reactions of women activists who have suffered rape as a punishment for their political actions. In "Draupadi" the heroine responds to her rape by redirecting the social and moral definitions of shame associated with rape from herself to the perpetrators and by using her naked mutilated body as a weapon against the army officer who ordered her rape. The narrative in "Black Horse Square" revolves around the refusal of a raped activist to be used as a political symbol. The paper concludes that these stories represent an important step in the search for the development of an alternative rhetoric to represent women's struggles.
Cross readings of oral narratives of the Tebhaga leader Ila Mitra with a complex history of viole... more Cross readings of oral narratives of the Tebhaga leader Ila Mitra with a complex history of violent encounters between the East Pakistani and a tribal population bring to light a unique historical conjuncture that took shape between Santal temporal imperatives and the communist teleology in the 1950s. Ila Mitra’s articulations and determined resistance reveal a deep identification with the adivasis that runs deeper than ideological solidarity and has rarely found place in our political cultures. In the contemporary context of political crackdowns on tribal populations, the relation of political parties with the people assumes criticality. Actual political engagement across caste and tribe calls for some understanding of committed and affective processes of negotiating difference, and while there are risks involved, there are also compelling solidarities that are possible. S
The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history sch... more The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history scholarship, has made it imperative for us to reassess the role of aesthetics – and of the relationship between affect, cognition and agency - in the making of history. Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations). The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
Theorizing Fieldwork in the Humanities: Methods, Reflections, and Approaches to the Global South. Eds Shalini Puri & Debra Castillo, 2016
The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history sch... more The contemporary engagement with subjectivity, that has also become a bedrock of oral history scholarship, has made it imperative for us to reassess the role of aesthetics – and of the relationship between affect, cognition and agency - in the making of history. Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations). The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
Unclaimed Harvest: An Oral History f the Tebhaga Women's Movement, 2016
The moral outrage against the injustice of the Bengal famine found an outlet in the care extended... more The moral outrage against the injustice of the Bengal famine found an outlet in the care extended by the women to the famine victims and in the taking on of responsibility to ensure their survival. Somewhere, a critical shift had taken place, from the ethic of care to a politics of care. The women saw this taking on of responsibility as a political act, and Manikuntala Sen even called it a ‘revolution’. There had clearly been a transformation of subjectivity.
The critical shift from the ethic of care to a politics of care seems to have balanced on the knife edge, where the ethic of care confronts an abyss and the only recourse is politics.
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Papers by Kavita Panjabi
Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations).
The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
The critical shift from the ethic of care to a politics of care seems to have balanced on the knife edge, where the ethic of care confronts an abyss and the only recourse is politics.
Aesthetics was not always limited to its contemporary concern with the appreciation and criticism of beauty, or with the study of artistic perfection. In 1735 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten had coined the term aesthetics from the Greek aisthanesthai, "to perceive”, and had framed it as a theory of cognition. The eighteenth century had thus recognized a valuable mode of accessing knowledge in human life; this was the process of “sensuous cognition” and it was formulated as a critical element of aesthetics. In the humanities today, a much narrowed down concern of aesthetics with beauty and perfection of sensitive cognition in what is perceived as art (which narratives of political movements are not), has resulted in the virtual elision of the affective constitution of subjectivity in lived realities. I hope to show how vital it is to restore the larger concerns of aesthetics, and its role in the constitution of subjectivity, not just to the “humanities”, but also to the “social sciences” (if we must continue to resort to such divisive categorizations).
The central argument here is about the critical force of aesthetics in the workings of subjectivity, and the pivotal role that it plays in the transformations of history.
The critical shift from the ethic of care to a politics of care seems to have balanced on the knife edge, where the ethic of care confronts an abyss and the only recourse is politics.