Masculinity and Ascetic Nationalism in India
Paper Proposals are invited for a proposed Special Session at the 2004 MLA
The identity of the popular Hindu ascetic figure has emerged not from within Hindu tradition alone but also in dialogue with other religions such as Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. Although historical work on Indian asceticism reveals that the category of meaning shifted through time, following the colonial encounter with Britain the (male) Hindu ascetic acquired a certain kind of meaning and legitimacy in Indian society. In contemporary times Hindu ascetic nationalists have again gained significant visibility as reformers of Indian society and as leaders of the ‘nation,’ apt for emulation by the ‘community.’ This re-emergence of ascetic practices as a means to reconfigure the public sphere in contemporary India has been possible because of the recurring trope of the Hindu ascetic in Indian popular culture and the popularity and success of socially involved ascetics, such as Gandhi and Vivekananda, who were engaged in politics for social liberation and socio-spiritual
transformation.
This session, therefore, aims to look at the intersections of religious and nationalist discourse in Indian literature.
Papers may address any of the following questions or variations thereof:
How does religion determine or perpetuate certain versions of masculine performance?
How is anticolonial/nationalist masculinity represented in literature in and through religious modalities?
How does class determine ascetic nationalist practices?
How do discourses of colonial and anti-colonial/nationalist masculinity intersect?
How does ascetic nationalism representations complicate/resist colonial masculinity?
How does ascetic nationalist practices enable or disable women’s participation in the nationalist struggle?
Papers can also deal with the writings of nationalist figures, like Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Gandhi and others, as well as the continuing prevalence of ascetic nationalist masculinity tropes in contemporary times.
Please submit a 300 word proposal and one-page CV by March 20 to Chandrima Chakraborty at chandri@yorku.ca
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