Sri Lanka & Iran : Gender and Nation

1. Sri Lanka & Iran: GenderandNation “Pigs Can’t Fly” (fromFunny Boy by ShyamSelvadurai) Persepolis (MarjaneSatrapi) Social Hierarchy & Revolution Children’s Games

2. “Pigs Can’t Fly” Gender and Nation Sri Lanka Area: 65,610km21.82of Taiwan images

3. UNSD statistical division for Asia based on statistic convenience rather than implying any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories: • North Asia • Central Asia • Western Asia (Middle East) • South Asia • East Asia • Southeast Asia (source) Turkey Iraq Iran Azerbaijan

4. Salaam Bombay Gainda Earth Poverty & Gender Class & Gender Gender & Race --Bollywood Film & Dance --Work, Drug dealing, robbery, prostitution -- Betrayal and Survival • Bride-Bride game, marriage, widowhood, sex Childbirth & children on the beach • Friends in a garden • Child Bride • loss, betrayal and sense of fragmentation Children’s Experiences in a postcolonial society Mica mining & Child labor 

5. Outline • Introduction: the author, the book and Sri Lanka • “Pigs Can’t Fly” • I. Childhood Games and Social System • II. Battle for Power and Gender Boundaries • III. Ending

6. The Author: ShyamSelvadurai • Born: Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1963 • Father Tamil, mother Sinhalese • Immigrated to Canada, 1984. -- his family forced into exile after the 1983 racial riot against the Tamil in Colombo. Education: York University, Toronto. • Funny Boy: A Novel in Six Stories --read by the Sri Lankan President and prompted a national debate on the need to repeal the antisodomy law in the country (Salgado 100)

7. Funny Boy: Structure • Funny Boy – set against the increasing violence between a between Sinhalese and Tamil in Sri Lank, culminating in the civil war which lasted for almost a decade(1983-1991). • The protagonist, "Arjie" Chelvaratnam, is the second-son of a privileged middle-class Tamil family in Colombo.

8. Funny Boy Connected stories of how Arjie is continually isolated from his family and then exiled from his society because of his gender orientation and the society’s racial tensions and despite attempts at breaking boundaries and rebellion. • "Pigs Can't Fly”-- Arjie's early childhood and his gravitation towards the imaginative games his female cousins play as opposed to his male cousins' beloved game of cricket. • "Radha Aunty" --Arjie's Aunt Radha, and her doomed affair with a Sinhalese man.

9. Funny Boy • "See No Evil, Hear No Evil“-- his mother's extra-marital affair with a childhood sweetheart. • "Small Choices" --chronicles one of Arjie's first crushes ­ a puppy love obsession with a young man employed by his Father • “The Best School of All” – Arjie’s experience of the conflicts between colonial education and Sinhalese nativism, between his need to conform and his love for Shehan. • "Riot Journal" -- first hand accounts of anti-Tamil violence. (Black July)

10. Tamil vs. Sinhalese • Sinhalese（僧伽羅人）migrated from Northern India to Sri Lanka since 5th-6th century BCE, while Tamil (坦米爾人) came from Southern India around since 2th BCE. • Sinhalese -- Buddhism • Tamil -- Hinduism, more sent to Sri Lanka by the British government and supported by the latter. • Since its independence as Ceylon, the Sinhalese (80% majority) put forth “Sinhala Only Law” in support of their political power, which causes discontent among the Tamil people (20%).

11. Documentary • 3:00 – Tamil imported to Sri Lanka by the British • Sinhalese rise to power after Independence • Civil War: 4:00 the burning of the library  5:19 1983 retalion of Tamils • History updated: 1983-2006 -- civil war (4 peace talks, 100,000 people dead) 2004 – striken by South Asian tsunami –about 35,000 dead 2009 -- LTTE defeated

12. Central Questions Why can’t pigs fly? What does the sky mean?* What does being “funny” mean? Is he “funny” because he is homosexual?

13. Characters Ammachi/Appachi

14. Discussion QuestionsI. Childhood Games and Social System • Territory & Leadership: • How are the boys' game and girls' game divided up and located? Describe the other parts of Grandma’s house (p. 3)* • What are the rules of the boys' cricket game and the girls' Bride-Bride?   Do these rules make sense?   Do these groups' structure reflect that of adults, or not?  • Who are the “leaders” of the children’s games and social games? • What does the title mean?

15. Discussion Questions II. Battle for Power & Gender Boundaries • Her Fatness vs. Arjie • How does Her Fatness fight for attention & power? • What gender roles do Arjie and Her Fatness take respectively in their power struggle?  • Cricket vs. Bride-Bride: • How does Arjie cross gender boundaries? Who else does so, too?* * • What roles do the adults (parents, Aunt Kanthi, grandma, Janaki) play? • What does the ending mean?  ***

16. The title • Funny --either humorous or strange (17); disgust • But Meena also crosses gender boundaries in playing the cricket game. • The other girls do, too, in the bride-bride game. • Arjie’s view of being a bride (5) and jewel and sari (15) •  the story is about the ideological system (the sky), and the power struggles within it.

17. Plot Summary

18. Persepolis: Discussion Questions Two perspectives A. Gender vs. religious fundamentalism: • How does Marjane experience revolution and war as a child & an adult? • How does her family survive and/or suffer from the Khomeini regime • The images of tulip and jasmine; the roles of women B. Exile and cultural identity: • The 1st time – isolation or liberation? • The 2nd Exile – after marriage and a friend’s death -- any difference? C. Filmic Techniques? Childhood & Revolution Teenage Years & War Europe – a. 1st 3 years b. love & dejection 4. Postwar Iran – a. return w/ depression & School; b. Iran – marriage & divorce + departure

19. Group 4 – Pigs 1; Persepolis 2 teenage Presenter (1) Wenny (2) Yoko • Group 3 -- – Pigs 2; Persepolis 1 childhood • Presenter (1) Alan (2)Coco • Group 2 -- – Pigs 3; Persepolis 3 Europe • Presenter (1) (2)Charlotte, Agnes • Group 1 – Pigs 4; Persepolis 4 postwar Iran • Presenter (1) (2) Shirley, Bluence

20. I.Children’s World and Their Views of the Adults • Avoid Mamachi (2) and Janaki • The dark corridor (2) • Territoriality and leadership (3) • Girls’ territory potential for free play of fantasy (4)

21. The Girls’ Game • Arjie as the leader because of “the force of his imagination”(p. 4) • His imagination– allows him to "leave the constraints of [his] self and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self" (5). • Still conditioned by the goddesses of the Sinhalese and Tamil cinema (breaking the racial boundary). • A world for girls – the groom the most useless (p. 6)

22. The Boy’s Game—Cricket • Competition -- with winning as the goal; • trading players • less powerful ones: e.g. Sanjay • girlie-boy: Arjie • the batting order – p. 26 • Numbers marked in the sand for the players to step on; • The older and better ones play first

23. II.The Children’s Struggle for Power • Her Fatness – in need of attention • An outsider pp. 6- • Kanthi Aunt – her anger (pp. 7-8) • Wins attention • by lying about not having a friend (7) • by showing off the dolls (p. 8) –which is less powerful than the bride-bride game; • by playing a loud groom (9) • by appealing to traditional gender boundaries (11) “A girl must be the bride.”

24. Arjie’s Fight back & Failure • Insisting on the rule to be the first one to play  so that he becomes offensive and can run away • the sari in the bag as a weapon • Agrees to play the groom, and then attracts the other girls’ attention. • Sari gone – so is his power.

25. Ending: The Sea vs. the System • Amachi and her cane p. 38 • The seaside and the tall building as a mirage p. 38 • Exiled

26. References: Salgado, minoli. Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance & the Politics of Place. NY: Routledge, 2007. 1. BBC: Sri Lanka+Tamil Tigers: Evolution of the Ethnic War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1UnhPq8Pio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArqcfDhHg9o

27. Reference (2): Mukkuthi[nose ornament]

28. Persepolis Gender, Nation and Exile Iran

29. Outline Persepolis • Introduction • Review: Purdah from different perspectives • Purdah/the veil in Persepolis • Discussion Questions • A child’s perspective on religious fundamentalism and war • The cultural identity of an exile

30. Review: Purdah, Burqa and Veil (Hijab) • Purdah深閨制度 -- Purdah is the practice that includes the seclusion of women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing from head to toe and by the use of high walls, curtains, and screens erected within the home. Purdah is practiced by Muslims and by various Hindus, especially in India. (http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/purdah.html ) • Burqa = body-covering, head-covering + face veil • types of sartorial hijab (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_sartorial_hijab )

31. Review: Purdah from Different Perspectives • Mostly believers in Islam see purdah as a very positive and respectful practice that actually liberates women. • Different Views: e.g. – 《回教女性的面紗》 • Muslim girls in UK; • in Iran • In Egypt • in Nigeria, etc. • In France, 2004 -- a law was set to prohibit students to wear any clearly visible religious symbols; thus wearing the burqa has been banned in public schools.

32. MarjiSatrapi—views expressed in Persepolis(the graphic fiction)

33. Marjane split in betweenher religious sentiment & “modern” upbringing

34. MarjiSatrapi—views expressed in Persepolis • The mother feels breathless wearing it, once humiliated when someone says: “Put your scarf back on sister.” (26:00)

35. Marji as a grown-up • (1:14) Bet to take off her veil • Speaks up against it in college • The episode: framed by Grandma’s lessons: • “Integrity!” • “Take off this fucking cowl. It makes me claustrophobic.” • Still caught by the police for holding hands with her boy friend

36. Marji speaks up against it (1:18) young ladies to wear tighter trousers and longer cowls. They must cover their hair and must not use any make-up. 1. I need to be able to to draw. A longer cowl makes it difficult to move freely 2. Our trousers efficiently hide our shapes. Knowing that those trousers are in fashion, is the religion defending our integrity...or is it simply opposed to fashion? 3. You make comments about us while the brothers...have many different clothes and hair cuts. Sometimes, we can even see their underwears.

37. Marji against the Veil: Little Acts of Rebellion Satrapi, Marjane (2006) Persepolis (London: Jonathan Cape, 301, 3-7) Cited in Claudio

38. Marji bets to take off the scarf But she can’t win over the system. Why?

39. MarjiSatrapi: against it, but also the French law* which bans it • French law on secularity (laïcité) and conspicuous religious symbols • “. . . All my life I have been against the veil, and now I am the one defending the veil. I hate the veil and what it means, . . . but I put myself in their [the girls’] place. It’s a question of these girls’ identity. Their mothers never wore the veil, and so they want to. Why? They [came] to France, 30–40 years [ago, but for the] French they are not French, and for [the] Arabs they are not Arabs. So the height of irony is that the veil has become a symbol of rebellion...”.(qtd in Costantino)

40. Persepolis on the market: book covers Tulip: symbol of martyrdom

41. Persepolis, Lolita and Beauty School amidst Controversies • Persepolis (2003-2004)– around the time of the US ‘‘War on Terror” and the French debate over veiled Muslim girls in secular public schools • Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)– reinforces Western concepts of Iranian women as oppressed? • Kabul Beauty School (2007)– Deborah Rodriquez as an American savior or victim of marital abuse?

43. Persepolis: Official History & Time Line Official History • The Qajar dynasty (卡加王朝) • 1925-1979 the Shah regime (巴列維王朝) • 1979 -- revolution; wearing the veil and anti-alcoholism • 1979-1989 -- the Khomenei era • 1980-1988  -- Iran–Iraq War • 1979 – enthusiastic about revolution • 1981-- age 12; Marijan went to Vienne, smoked drug, fell in and out of love • 1987  --age 18; Marijane returned to Iran; got married and then divorced.  • 1993 --age 24 -- Marjane left Iran again • present -- Marjane Satrapi at the airport, unable to board a plane to Iran.

44. National Authorities • The Shah –1925 (0:08) • The revolution 1979 • The post-war 90’s

45. Iraq vs. Iran War (1980-1988) • Reasons: • Iran – Islamization of the nation; Iraq – reduces and controls religion; • Khomeini once expelled by Iraq; • the issue of Kurdish (庫德族）, etc. • Father: The West sold weapons to both sides. . . (1:03) The US – • secretly supported Iraq in its production of chemical weapons. • sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages (伊朗軍售醜聞 Iran-Contra Scandal—disclosed in 1986) (References: Reasons and Senate Mitchell’s Speech against Olive North http://usinfo.org/zhtw/PUBS/AmReader/p842.htm )

46. A Related Film: Charlie Wilson's War --Charlie Wilson urged the government to provide essential weapons to help the Mujehideen in Afghanistan beat back the Soviet Army. Wilson: "I always, always, whenever a plane goes down, I always fear it is one of our missiles. Most of all I wanted to bloody the Red Army [of Russia]. I think the bloodying thereof had a great deal to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union.” But -- the weapons probably wound up in the hands of the Taliban regime, which took power in Afghanistan and harbored Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, organizer of the September 11 attacks. "I feel guilty about it," he said. "I really do." "Those things happen," (source)

47. Persepolis Central Question: How does Marji grow up in and away from Iran? • Major Influences –Western culture vs. Muslim religion and nationalism • Major Turning Points and Her Choices

48. Marjane’s Growth • Pre-revolution: Westernized, loves Bruce Lee • Idealistic and inquisitive, learning from uncle Anouche

49. We're gonna smash Ramine's face. Children’s Perception • takes on the adults’ enthusiasm (or fanaticism)

50. What’s Wrong?