Description
While globalization is often credited with the eradication of 'traditional' constraints tied to gender and caste, in reality the opening up of the Indian economy in the 1990s has led to a decline in freedom for many female, Dalit, and lower class Indians.
This book explores the contraction of what it means to be free in post-liberalization India, examining how global capitalism has exacerbated existing inequalities based on traditional femininities and masculinities, while also creating new hierarchies.
Freedom Inc. argues that post-1990s literature and culture frequently represents and reinforces the equation of free-market capitalism with individual freedom within the new 'idea of India.' However, many texts often also challenge this logic by pointing to more expansive horizons of autonomy for the gendered self.
Through readings of texts as diverse as Dalit women's life-writing, pop fiction, realist novels, self-help, regional film, and Netflix TV shows, Mangharam investigates how notions like 'free trade, ' 'entrepreneurship, ' and 'self-help' are experienced, embodied, and challenged by disadvantaged peoples, and by women differently than men. In the process, Freedom Inc. explores how different literary forms illuminate alternative and buried pathways to fuller freedom
Author: Mukti Lakhi Mangharam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 07/13/2023
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781350200814
ISBN10: 1350200816
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Asian | Indic
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 20th Century
This book explores the contraction of what it means to be free in post-liberalization India, examining how global capitalism has exacerbated existing inequalities based on traditional femininities and masculinities, while also creating new hierarchies.
Freedom Inc. argues that post-1990s literature and culture frequently represents and reinforces the equation of free-market capitalism with individual freedom within the new 'idea of India.' However, many texts often also challenge this logic by pointing to more expansive horizons of autonomy for the gendered self.
Through readings of texts as diverse as Dalit women's life-writing, pop fiction, realist novels, self-help, regional film, and Netflix TV shows, Mangharam investigates how notions like 'free trade, ' 'entrepreneurship, ' and 'self-help' are experienced, embodied, and challenged by disadvantaged peoples, and by women differently than men. In the process, Freedom Inc. explores how different literary forms illuminate alternative and buried pathways to fuller freedom
Author: Mukti Lakhi Mangharam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 07/13/2023
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781350200814
ISBN10: 1350200816
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Asian | Indic
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 20th Century
About the Author
Mukti Lakhi Mangharam is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA.