Papers by Dr Abhisarika Prajapati
ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, Feb 20, 2024
Research Paper, 2024
This paper aims to investigate analytically the recent Hindi movie Doctor G (2022) as a filmic in... more This paper aims to investigate analytically the recent Hindi movie Doctor G (2022) as a filmic intervention in dismantling gender stereotyping in practice of gynaecology in India in the context of women's health and the role of media. It also brings forth social conditioning and self-restricting behaviour as consequences of hegemonic masculinities. There is a significant number of women as gynaecologist but there is minimal number of male doctors in the field in India which is alarming as it creates a new gender role for men and women and hence restricts gender equality. Doctor G (2022) is a very significant Hindi film which grabs our attention towards the entry of a male doctor (reluctantly) in the field of gynaecology, starring Ayushmaan Khurana, Shefali Shah, and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles. The film dismantles gender stereotypes and questions if doctors can be divided into gender categories or how it is valid to allow gender stereotypes within the boundaries of a hospital. This paper intends to identify the gender stereotypes and their analysis in the film dismantling the machinery of patriarchal system in outlining the underlying experience. It compares the practice of gynaecology in India with other countries too.
Towards excellence, Jun 30, 2021
Towards Excellence
Sometimes we wonder how the challenges before women remain universal. African American women and ... more Sometimes we wonder how the challenges before women remain universal. African American women and Dalit women in India faced many of the same challenges and hardships. Though these two communities are located on opposite sides of the globe, the women of these two cultures have experienced similar marginalization and persecution at the hands of their oppressors. This study focuses on the challenges that these subaltern women have faced for a long time, including racial discrimination, gender inequality, class inequalities, caste oppression, slavery, and other forms of oppression. Throughout their life, African American women were subjected to forced servitude, racial degradation, and tyranny. And Dalit women in India were oppressed by the inhumane practice of casteism, which rendered them untouchable and subjected them to double discrimination from higher castes and male chauvinists inside their households. As a result, the emphasis is on the depiction of their tragic life, which was ...
Towards Excellence
The literal meaning of the word ‘Dalit’ itself represents the life of Dalits. The word “Dalit” me... more The literal meaning of the word ‘Dalit’ itself represents the life of Dalits. The word “Dalit” means broken or scattered Dalits in Indian society are known for suppression and poverty from centuries. The reason behind this suppression is old age Caste system which is deeply rooted in the mindset of Indians. Even with the development of the country we still see how caste system is being prevalent in the Indian society and how Dalits are still being exposed to many atrocities even beside fundamental rights and special legal provisions provided by the Indian Constitution. This paper studies few recent atrocities on Dalits and also discusses about fundamental rights and special legal provisions provided for Dalits. The resources have been collected from various newspapers and websites
Research Paper, 2022
The literal meaning of the word 'Dalit' itself represents the life of Dalits. The word "Dalit" me... more The literal meaning of the word 'Dalit' itself represents the life of Dalits. The word "Dalit" means broken or scattered Dalits in Indian society are known for suppression and poverty from centuries. The reason behind this suppression is old age Caste system which is deeply rooted in the mindset of Indians. Even with the development of the country we still see how caste system is being prevalent in the Indian society and how Dalits are still being exposed to many atrocities even beside fundamental rights and special legal provisions provided by the Indian Constitution. This paper studies few recent atrocities on Dalits and also discusses about fundamental rights and special legal provisions provided for Dalits. The resources have been collected from various newspapers and websites.
With the dawn of human civilization we evolved a pivotal way and systematic pattern for communica... more With the dawn of human civilization we evolved a pivotal way and systematic pattern for communication which we all know as language. In fact, invention(discovery) of language is a prominent signature in the history of human inventions and cultural evolution. Our language has scientific approach and abundant of words for specific emotions, temper and situation. This is human nature as well to name everything what he or she encounters in life. This might have triggered the beginning of organizing our thoughts and ideas in to words which are meant to be spoken. But there are lot of other different languages also do exist in our life and around us as well. This paper is a sincere attempt to explore and study languages which are beyond words. They exist in form of signs as Ronald Barthes told us and sometimes they are hidden and we need to decipher the meaning. This paper is exhaustive while making a study, there may be some more languages which I could not find but my aim is just to stimulate and encourage more scientific study on the subject which completes our life and life style too. I have tried to study the language of fashion in clothes, language of roads and language in nature.
John Arden is generally acknowledged to be one of the major playwrights of the post war British t... more John Arden is generally acknowledged to be one of the major playwrights of the post war British theatre. He is well known for his innovative treatment of social and political themes. For him theatre became a tempting medium for something to say. He expanded and transformed the areas of life, which could be treated in the theatre, and made it seem much more directly relevant to present day lives and problems. Human self exist in definite relationship to other selves. Relationships among selves matter, its values, its dignity on which only large buildings of any institution can stand. The study of violence and the politics of violence is a problematic issue. It is a matter of serious concern not only for social activist but for artist and writers as well. John Arden not only deals with the issue of violence but he also tries to debunk its justification with his new interpretation. He interrogates justification of violence in war itself and unveils the hallow rationalization of violenc...
There is a rapid growth of diaspora literature in the recent decades. My paper tries to explore i... more There is a rapid growth of diaspora literature in the recent decades. My paper tries to explore in Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel The Namesake the gender role of 'She' amid the tension of nostalgia, pain, loss and cultural clash in the wake of postmodernism. Thispaper propagates female role in unifying the conflicts of cultures, creation of global environment with an emphasis on the biological role of 'she'. The Namesake provides a fertile ground to study that not only the identity but entity of a woman is local and hence connected directly to the global issues and how they sustain a life in contributing their part in the problematic process of assimilation holding tightly their conventional role and traditional values.
Ms. Muriel Spark is a strong voice of feminism in the realm of literature. She is a significant s... more Ms. Muriel Spark is a strong voice of feminism in the realm of literature. She is a significant signature to raise the voiceless voice of women of her time and has given prominent meaning to the vacuum of female perspectives in her fictional world. Her The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a much discussed novel where the protagonist has been given intellectual shades and her character is a direct challenge in the patriarchal set up of society. Her novella The Driver's Seat is also one of her favorite creation which provides us to examine the changing human psyche in the chaotic world of post-World War. My paper is a sincere attempt to explore the enigmatic character of the protagonist andher act of self-imposed violence that perplexes the reader. I have tried to unveil the interesting layers of untold and hidden articulation of female world and a peculiar kind of violence in this novella. In this creation of Muriel Spark, it is not important how the incident is happening rather why ...
Social Science Research Network, 2015
Monica Ali is known as a celebrated novelist of fiction in English. She is a Bangladesh-born writ... more Monica Ali is known as a celebrated novelist of fiction in English. She is a Bangladesh-born writer and generally considered as an expatriate writer. Her first work of fiction Brick Lane presents a hot discussion on the emotional confusion of migrants and their world. Her third novel is far from these issues of diasporic sensibility but it presents an authentic picture of postmodern man who struggles to articulate his selfhood in the age of extremes and uncertainties. Monica Ali in this work has tried to examine man’s existential tension and conflicts related to his self and surrounding. The postmodern age is a time of incessant choosing and world-communication with an irony of lack of any definite communication. Amid the confused parody, the postmodernist sails often getting lost and coming to grief. This paper is a sincere attempt to make a survey of the characters of In the Kitchen for articulation of selfhood with the intervention of postmodernism in this paradoxical world.
Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora ... more Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora is a fertile ground to study Indian women fiction from a different perspective. We see that women fiction of India focuses on the loss of cultural roots. We see women character's emotional pain and suffering amidst a plethora of intercultural miscommunication. The representation of culture in often hostile environment as well as the relation with the homeland is key features of the diaspora concept in Indian Milieu. This research paper is a humble attempt to emphasise on how those women define their identities in diasporic background and how they negotiate traditional contracts of identity given their experience of alienation and assimilation within their host culture and communities the home limited ability to play a role in defining themselves against categories that are critical to them. Creation of literature gives a historical connection in the context of contemporary social str...
Sahitya Setu, 2021
Omprakash Valmiki's autobiography Joothan is not an armchair reading, it's absolutely excruciatin... more Omprakash Valmiki's autobiography Joothan is not an armchair reading, it's absolutely excruciating in its perusal. It represents the ebbs and flow in the life of a Dalit in Indian society deconstructing its social pyramid. Representation is very subjective and a politically loaded word. It's completely in the hand of a writer what he wants to serve to his/her reader, what he selects and how he constructs. Dalit literature is the product of Dalit consciousness for their rights and identity. It rewrites history and aims to present literature to support human life and deconstruct the dominant views of the dominant. Violence becomes all the more dangerous and heinous when it is organized and exercised through an institution. Caste hierarchy in India is one such form of violence which generates a performative force and victimizes brutally the marginalized outcastes. One can find several cases reported of ragging in colleges and instances of bullying too even in modern India despite Anti-ragging Cells. The maximum number of cases are due to the social pyramid and practice of caste hierarchy though many remain unreported. The dual combination of institutional violence and student abuse in the field of education system specifically on the basis of caste problematizes many other issues and challenges constitutional values too. This paper is an attempt to explore the areas of institutional violence in the educational organization and interrogates teacher's behaviors for student abuse through Omprakash Valmiki's autobiography Joothan.
Crime and Punishment is a brilliant work by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. It penetrates d... more Crime and Punishment is a brilliant work by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. It penetrates deeply in to human psyche which is embroiled in the social and economic state apparatus and eventually, is left with a tortured soul and haunted mental condition of agonized conscience where he is entirely caught in a delirium and suffers pangs of remorse. Actually, this masterpiece projects man‘s extreme desire to rule the world influenced by thinkers like Nietzsche and Pushkin and on the other hand he is unable to cope with his tormented soul and unable to suppress the voice of his conscience where his sense of guilt penalizes him for his crime with bitter inner conflict and chaos. It flaunts perfect panorama of modern world where man is facing existential dilemma of meaninglessness and emptiness of life in this universe where society causes violence against man‘s entity and identity as well. Fyodor Dostoevsky was not only a renowned Russian novelist but he was a philosopher and thinker...
Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora ... more Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora is a fertile ground to study Indian women fiction from a different perspective. We see that women fiction of India focuses on the loss of cultural roots. We see women character’s emotional pain and suffering amidst a plethora of intercultural miscommunication. The representation of culture in often hostile environment as well as the relation with the homeland is key features of the diaspora concept in Indian Milieu. This research paper is a humble attempt to emphasise on how those women define their identities in diasporic background and how they negotiate traditional contracts of identity given their experience of alienation and assimilation within their host culture and communities the home limited ability to play a role in defining themselves against categories that are critical to them. Creation of literature gives a historical connection in the context of contemporary social structu...
Crime and Punishment is a brilliant work by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. It penetrates d... more Crime and Punishment is a brilliant work by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. It penetrates deeply in to human psyche which is embroiled in the social and economic state apparatus and eventually, is left with a tortured soul and haunted mental condition of agonized conscience where he is entirely caught in a delirium and suffers pangs of remorse. Actually, this masterpiece projects man's extreme desire to rule the world influenced by thinkers like Nietzsche and Pushkin and on the other hand he is unable to cope with his tormented soul and unable to suppress the voice of his conscience where his sense of guilt penalizes him for his crime with bitter inner conflict and chaos. It flaunts perfect panorama of modern world where man is facing existential dilemma of meaninglessness and emptiness of life in this universe where society causes violence against man's entity and identity as well. Fyodor Dostoevsky was not only a renowned Russian novelist but he was a philosopher and thinker too. He is usually considered as a pioneer of Existentialism in literature. He started writing in the prime of his life and produced several novels, novellas and short-fiction. Fyodor Dostoevsky wears many caps on his head when it comes to themes and narrative style of his story-telling. He infused his stories quite imbibed with his social, economic and religious milieu of his contemporary time but his focus is always on the inner human psyche and human conscience. He is regarded as an exquisite observer of human psyche. His well-known works are Poor Folks, Demons, Crime and Punishment, The Idiots and many more. He is the writer who gave religious wave a spiritual direction-the very foundation of human values. His works are true reflection of his own autobiographical hardships which he experienced during his sentence to death, exile and compulsory military service. Probably, his authentic tormented human psyche oozed in inky words in his works which make him a celebrated writer across the globe. Understanding itself is mental condition that demands empathy to comprehend an abstract and physical idea. In fact, it is moreover a meticulous psychological process to grasp and think sensitively about some situation or message or idea. Considerably, it is a relationship between the knower and the Abstract: To certain extend man's mental condition and changing pattern of psyche is extensively influenced by his socioeconomic milieu which formulates his mental landscape. Fyodor Dostoevsky is the writer who projects perfect panorama of man's tormented soul and unending dilemma of existential significance at it best. His protagonist in the novel has been delineated primarily as a psychological being whose conscience suffers pangs of agony. Intelligently, Dostoevsky has put forward his concern for redefining the issues of crime and punishment. Undoubtedly, this novel is highly imbibed in Nietzschean colour though it challenges the state apparatus with religious connotation. Through literary devices like monologues the novelist has dissected the inner feelings of his protagonist whose entity and identity changes after 'that' crime. My paper is an attempt to study and analyze the mental landscape of the protagonist of the novel influenced by his surroundings and conflict in his soul. This is what makes this novel a classic in world literature. Dostoevsky's aim has been to expose the autocratic elements, rooted in the deeper layers of the society, which remove all the unique as well as creative features from a human being and reduces him to a mere social animal.
Girish Karnad is a strong signature in the realm of Indian plays in English though interestingly,... more Girish Karnad is a strong signature in the realm of Indian plays in English though interestingly, he wrote his plays first in Kannada and then translated them into English that shows the triumph of his creative voice above every other thing.He aptly contrives two distinctive features in his writing that is the theme of love and tradition clinging to mythological elements in his plays. He is usually, considered as a playwright of myth and modernity; Cupid is nothing but a myth and prevalent in his plays as a hidden myth functioning as a muse. The subject of love is deliberated in most of his major plays such as Yayati, Naga-mandala, Hayavadana, The Fire and the Rain.Karnad's most celebrated play Hayavadna is very potential to be deciphered as primarily a play based on the roles of Cupid. From the very outset of the play we can sense and smell the eroticism prevailed in the atmosphere of Hayavadanawhether it is obsessive love of Devdatta with the idea of love itself or Padmini in the form of Cupid to attain perfection. Most interesting study goes with text of Naga-mandala where we find Cupid in Supernatural form and who can play its pivotal role to bring about a possibility to bind man and woman in an eternal bond of true love. It can also be perceived as a harbinger of spirituality in human life.This paper is an attempt to explore the roles, forms and myth of Cupid in Girish Karnad's most celebrated play Hayavadana.
There is a rapid growth of diaspora literature in the recent decades. My paper tries to explore i... more There is a rapid growth of diaspora literature in the recent decades. My paper tries to explore in Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel The Namesake the gender role of 'She' amid the tension of nostalgia, pain, loss and cultural clash in the wake of postmodernism. Thispaper propagates female role in unifying the conflicts of cultures, creation of global environment with an emphasis on the biological role of 'she'. The Namesake provides a fertile ground to study that not only the identity but entity of a woman is local and hence connected directly to the global issues and how they sustain a life in contributing their part in the problematic process of assimilation holding tightly their conventional role and traditional values.
Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora ... more Migration has always been a major force in human history. The study of the phenomena of diaspora is a fertile ground to study Indian women fiction from a different perspective. We see that women fiction of India focuses on the loss of cultural roots. We see women character's emotional pain and suffering amidst a plethora of intercultural miscommunication. The representation of culture in often hostile environment as well as the relation with the homeland is key features of the diaspora concept in Indian Milieu. This research paper is a humble attempt to emphasise on how those women define their identities in diasporic background and how they negotiate traditional contracts of identity given their experience of alienation and assimilation within their host culture and communities the home limited ability to play a role in defining themselves against categories that are critical to them. Creation of literature gives a historical connection in the context of contemporary social structure. Indian women fiction in English also embellishes facts and unfolds interesting layers to hold the question of nostalgia, identity and quest for homeland. Diasporic sensibility in Indian women fiction can be seen and exemplified in interaction between gender class ethnicity and most importantly a recreation of identity and a new role of gender. Pendulating between the infatuation of home and land of opportunities-these form a new migrant come across a constant psychic battle: the old world is replete with myth and tradition; the new world is proliferate with an appetite for freedom. Their situation is like Hamlet, to be or not to be, as to whether they should remain in a situation amid old values and tradition with least interaction with the majority or break the shackles and get assimilated with the paraphernalia of new culture. For materialistic goals they are losing their identity and finding only uncertainty. Literature is an honest representation of contemporary society so as the Indian Women novelist also have tried to depict the picture of their experience mixing fact and fiction in the writings. No doubt degree of honesty varies from person to person. Particular forms of loss and yearning articulated in much of diasporic literature relate to the experience of men as men, as
Ms. Muriel Spark is a strong voice of feminism in the realm of literature. She is a significant s... more Ms. Muriel Spark is a strong voice of feminism in the realm of literature. She is a significant signature to raise the voiceless voice of women of her time and has given prominent meaning to the vacuum of female perspectives in her fictional world. Her The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a much discussed novel where the protagonist has been given intellectual shades and her character is a direct challenge in the patriarchal set up of society. Her novella The Driver's Seat is also one of her favorite creation which provides us to examine the changing human psyche in the chaotic world of post-World War. My paper is a sincere attempt to explore the enigmatic character of the protagonist andher act of self-imposed violence that perplexes the reader. I have tried to unveil the interesting layers of untold and hidden articulation of female world and a peculiar kind of violence in this novella. In this creation of Muriel Spark, it is not important how the incident is happening rather why it is so, that makes our perusal alive and vital. In the modern age of 20 th century Ms. Muriel Spark emerged on the monitor of English-fiction as a strong voice of an intellectual female novelist. She seems not only to be proud of being a female but embraced feminism as an ideology in the sense of consciously held set of beliefs which aims at understanding this world and human existence from her own perspectives. She believed in her own actual female perception of human problems and its intricacies. In her fictional territory she let her woman characters wander through the world releasing them from a kind of confinement of patriarchal set up and prepare them for an entirely new gender role of 'she'. Muriel Spark is the name of a popular novelist of English arena who has a strong, dynamic and firm authoritative zeal and genius well expressed in her works. Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat was published in 1970 which is known as a novella. It is also described as 'metaphysical shocker' in the literary circles. Undoubtedly, it is a narrative of psychological state of mind of a woman which shocks, thrills and leaves the reader with a profound thought to explore the enigmatic character and bizarre milieu of our postmodern world and culture. This is work of fiction where we find tone and temper of alienation and isolation also. Lise, who is the protagonist of the book has been given the mission to chase the mystery of death. It is a story of violence-self-imposed violence but it is also a tale of freedom of a woman who is independent enough to be involved in the quest of self and psyche. It is also a narrative of loss of spiritual values in the humdrum of materialistic growth and extremes.
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Papers by Dr Abhisarika Prajapati