South-Indian American Women Writers

1. South-Indian American Women Writers Issues of Cultural Identity and Gender

2. Migrants and their Cultural Identities • Immigration and its Push and Pull factors • Five kinds of diaspora: • Victim(e.g. Jews, Africans, Armenians), • Labour (Indian, Chinese), • Trade (Chinese and Lebanese), • Imperial (the British, etc.), • Cultural/Economic diasporas(the Caribbean).

3. Middle Passage

4. B. Mukherjee, Sujata Bhatt, A. AppachanaC. Divakaruni Routes of Recent Migrations from Indian Subcontinent Air India H. Bannerji; Rushdie, Imtiaz Dharker (back to India) B. Mukherjee, India-- U.S. –Canada -- U.S. Sujata Bhatt India – U.S. -- Germany

5. Immigrants and Cultural Identity • Possible Choices  But do they have a choice? • Assimilation the myth of melting pot; self-hatred (Pam, second-generation) • Separation/isolation Discrimination, Exclusion (.g. the elderly couple in M) • Hyphenation (In-Between positions)  Multiculturalism = Ghettoization (Sheila)

6. Cultural Identity: Multiple Influences Family and other social units

7. Cultural Identity and Gender Identity: Issues Related to South Asian American Women (1) • Cultural Identity in between country of origin and the host nation • – potted plant, empty baggage, umbilical cord buried in the host nation • -- how/whether to look back • -- hyphenated or not (e.g. B. Mukherjee– refused to be hyphenated) • Experience of Racism: Visible Minorities e.g. Sari, food, religion, need for resistance “We the Indian Women in America” “Paki Go Home” “To Sylvia Plath”

8. Cultural Identity and Gender Identity: Issues Related to SAAW (2) • Cultural Identity influenced by Sexism of both places (“Her Mother”) • Experience of Racism and Sexism Combined in both places. e.g. “Her Mother” “Management” • Racism: • can happen because of lack of understanding, • subtle ones in the questions, harsher ones in racist slurs • Individual institutionalized • Intensify or weaker mother-daughter bonding and sisterhood

9. “Her Mother” : Gender issues • What makes the mother similar to our mothers? • Which parts of the mother make her “traditional” mother? What aspects of her are “feminist” and unconventional? • How is the mother related to the daughter and her husband?

10. “Her Mother” : Contradictory Gender identities • “traditional” mother— • Views about marriage & Concern with the two daughters’ • Motherly advice: Eat, Bathe, Oil your hair, stay with Indians, go meet the good buy. • Her own dream and collections • “feminist” – • teach the daughter independence • Views of her husband, Indian men and American culture

11. “Her Mother” : Contradictory Gender identities (2) • -How is the mother related to the daughter and her husband? • The daughter’s being closer to the father, p133; different feminist views p. 135 • The husband’s double standard; his sense of betrayal p. 138

12. “Her Mother” : Cultural Issues • How does the mother and the father look at the U.S. and India differently? • What are the mother’s stereotypical views of “Westerners”?

13. “Her Mother” : Gender + Culture Issues • What pre-occupies the mother? How does the mother feel about the daughter’s hair-cutting and leaving? • Why does the daughter see going abroad as an escape? Escape from what? • How does the mother get to understand the daughter? • Grief + memory • Significant clues: midnight encounter, Rapunzel, handkerchief; pinched look • Sisterhood and Mother-daughter bonding: can they be strong enough support in a society dominated by men?

14. Bharati Mukherjee Sees immigration as a process of reincarnation, breaking away (killing) from the roots. • Born in Calcutta, India, in 1940, she grew up in a wealthy traditional family. • Went to America in 1961 to attend the Iowa’s Writers Workshop • Married Canadian author Clark Blaise in 1963, immigrated to Canada • Found life as a "dark-skinned, non-European immigrant to Canada" very hard and moved to the U.S.

15. “The Management of Grief”: Background • June 22nd., 1985 Air India flight 182, leaving from Vancouver for India, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic ocean off the Coast of Ireland. • 329 people died. • Suspects: Two Sikh nationalists. But investigation still goes on. • Consequence: p. 162

16. “The Management of Grief” First question: What’re the meanings of the title?

17. “The Management of Grief”: Different Ways of Management • Characters: • -- The narrator (Mrs. Shaila Bhave), p. 160, 164, 169, 170 • -- Pam, escapes, feeling neglected, ends up serving Orientals. p. 161, 174 • -- Kusum, accept fate, 163, 164, 173 • -- Dr. Ranganathan, another kind of escape, while keeping the connection p. 169, 170, 174 • -- the elderly couple leave it to their god; insist on their own way and believe themselves "strong."

18. “The Management of Grief”: Different Ways of Management • The Canadian government -- evasive 159, indifferent 160. <--> Irish 163-164, 165, 166 giving flowers and showing sympathy <--> not blaming on the whole group of people because of some individuals 167 • Judith Templeton--considers them ignorant, a mess.

19. “The Management of Grief”: Different Ways of Management Theory: 1. Rejection, 2. depression, (Depressed Acceptance) 3. Acceptance, 4. reconstruction (p. 170) What is not considered? guilt/regret, hope, prefers ignorance, or their own versions p. 163 mourning process: searching, waiting. Different cultures’ views of grief and mourning.

20. Cultural Identity and Gender Identity: Issues Related to South Asian American Women (3) • Two mothers experience different kinds of loss; • Carry on what they cherish and are given.

21. Cultural Identity and Gender Identity: Issues Related to South Asian American Women (4) • Another example—from the daughter’s perspective Desperately Seeking Helen • Helen, like the stove, or biting in the food, is a sign of rebellion. Only she is also a role model, a vamp (the opposite to heroine) who turns out to be a combination of mother figure and Eisha Marjara’s need for resistance.