Lakshmi Saracino

Confronting Global Gender Justice: Women’s Lives, Human Rights

barbara — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Edited by Tamara Harvey, Paula Ruth Gilbert, Debra Bergoffen, Connie L. McNeely

Confronting Global Gender Justice provides the reader a refreshing survey, albeit difficult to digest at times, of current issues and debates within the context of women’s rights as human rights. The chapters reflect the lived experiences of women and not just theory masked behind empty words.

Confronting Global Gender Justice is divided into five thematic parts: “Complicating the discourses of victimhood”; “Interrogating practices of representation”; “Mobilizing strategies of engagement”; “Crossing legal landscape”; and “Confronting global gender justice.” With a total of eighteen chapters, each chapter is authored by a different woman or man and thus each has its own tone of voice.

The first part examines the power of myth in the woman-as-victim and looks at the gender dynamics of war crimes. Laura Sjoberg identifies narratives of “the mother, the monster and the whore” used to understand the motivations for women involved in genocidal crimes. The limited agency within violence is also covered, as well as human trafficking and a comparison of how the practice of prostitution and sexuality is viewed through the context of religion.

Using a photographic essay, the poetics of memory, and a discussion of digital storytelling, Part II, “Interrogating practices of representation,” illustrates some ways to process and draw attention to women’s rights as human rights. By looking at human rights through the lens of literature and poetry, author Ricardo F. Vivancos Perez discusses the “vocabulary of human rights” as no longer purely defined in the legal domain. Playing with concepts of production, these chapters widen the discourse of what form the dialogue on human rights may take.

Part III, “Mobilizing strategies of engagement,” combines articles written by people of diverse power locations, from activists and NGO workers in the field to academics. In light of recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, the chapter on “Algerian women in movement” was particularly intriguing due to the interrelatedness of domestic politics and power for women. Part IV, “Crossing legal landscapes,” is comprised of five chapters that range in subject from the plight of women and children with disabilities to the institutionalization of domestic violence in the U.S.

The final chapter is an interview with activist Kum-kum Bhavnani (scholar, activist, filmmaker) that serves not to bring the discussions to a close, but to open them up for further reflection. The volume succeeds in creating a dialogue between theorists and activists. Questions of women’s rights are interrelated with questions of human rights. With its reaffirmation of the feminist commitment to the partnership of theory and practice, I only hope this volume snowballs into more dialogue and action.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, March 15th 2011

Tales from the Yoga Studio

mandy — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

By Rain Mitchell

Plume

Tales from the Yoga Studio is, in many ways, the typical story of White women who discover Eastern philosophy (in this case, yoga) and learn how to breathe deeply. Though the women weren’t all from White, upper class society (there was a token Latina and some women who couldn’t afford the yoga class), it essentially contains the trials and tribulations of upper class Angelenos: Which yoga studio to go to today? What to wear to yoga class?

I have had experience attending a wide variety of yoga classes and peeking into the world in which yoga is a competitive sport. I dislike the commodification of yoga, which has become, in this context, devoid of the union of body and mind. In spite of this, I was looking forward to reading a potentially fun drama about a yoga studio.

While there were a few lines that I almost marked to look at later, for the most part I was annoyed with the characters, found the writing lacking a strong voice, and felt slightly impatient to finish the 297 pages. I continued as a result of a sense of wonder that there might be a hidden point that would illuminate itself in the last few pages and make everything seem worthwhile. No such luck.

It could be that, as a woman of color recently returning to the United States from India, the characters of Tales from the Yoga Studio were too preoccupied with their own world. For this reason, I am explicitly exposing my potential bias. There may very well be people out there who would enjoy this novel precisely because of its simplicity. In retrospect, perhaps my expectations were too high.

Tales from the Yoga Studio was clearly not my favorite novel, but for someone who does yoga in LA, may be right up your alley.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, January 20th 2011

Engendering Performance: Indian Women Performers in Search of an Identity

gita — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

By Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, Bishnupriya Dutt

Sage Publications

In its very fragmentariness, Engendering Performance: Indian Women Performers in Search of an Identity serves as an alternative to the traditional scholarly textbook. Engendering Performance seems best utilized as a jumping off point for conversations, further studies and exchanges of the kind found in classrooms of higher education. The authors have purposefully refrained from offering an all encompassing meta narrative in exploring the role and position of gender and women in defining identity through theatre and dance.

In their introduction, the authors note that the concept for the book was developed as they designed a curriculum for the study of the performing arts for The School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi in 2000. The book was born out of a desire to take a critical look at identity and body politics, dipping into a plethora of fields, including history, economics, cultural studies, ethnography, and feminist criticism to pose questions regarding the role of the actress-dancer in colonial and national culture as well as to analyze performance. The book aims to examine the meanings of performative gestures, as well as aesthetic historical codes, in other words, to debunk what history has taught and written with regard to theatre and dance, keeping gender in mind. The authors aim to simultaneously exist outside of prescribed disciplines, while interacting with them. In doing so, Engendering Performance reclaims the voice of the actress, moving against the general concept that the male actor is the voice and the actress is left at the margins.

While I do not come from a background of scholarly writings on theatre and dance, and I may have been lost at certain points when it came to the various topics and theatre- and dance-specific jargon, overall I found the text to be a worthwhile introduction to some of the continual questions and issues that arise within a new field, or a series of interrelated subjects. The book is divided into two sections, the first focusing on “The Story of the Actress” and the second entitled “Of The Woman Dancer.” Each chapter is a different look at aspects of these professions and identities.

The first chapter begins with an examination of the structures and spaces of theatres, while the second chapter discusses the challenge of public and private lives especially in the duality and the roles the actress must play.The authors discuss the custom of prostitutes as actresses, among other issues of space and identity. One chapter also looks at the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) which was initially formed as the cultural branch of the Communist Party, bringing theatre into politics while expanding the role and scope of the actress’ identity. Section two focuses primarily on dance and begins with a critical look at the ancient text of Natya Sastra, called the 5th Veda and seen as a performer’s rule-book. The authors pose questions such as “Who benefits from Natyasastra being the rule-book of gender and class/caste behaviour?” The following chapter takes a closer look at the body and the growing role of the body as a tool for a woman to “speak and write and communicate her-story as opposed to the common history.” In the last chapter, “Tale of Professional Woman Dancer in Folk Traditions in India: Commodification of Dance and the Traditional Dancing Women,” the text looks at the distinct rural and urban identities and the many levels of marginalization.

The final conclusion, instead of serving as a comprehensive overview, is a discussion with Samik Bandyopadhyay, a Kolkata-based critic of art, theatre and film.The intention of “disturbing the dominant narrative” seems to have been achieved, albeit in a fragmented way, which is acknowledged in the final discussion. Bandyopadhyay acknowledges the limitations of such a text; he says, and I agree, that this is an ongoing process. Connecting practice to theory and transcending fixed categories or genres, Engendering Performance takes a step and moves those seeming to encroach on this space, in order to create a new genre of performance studies based on the varied experiences within India.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, October 27th 2010

Braking News: 1 Bus, 2 Girls, 15 Thousand Kilometers, 715 Million Votes

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Sunetra Choudhury

Hatchette India

Sunetra Choudhury’s Braking News takes the reader on a trip across India to find the elusive Indian voter in both cities and villages. As an anchor and TV news reporter, Choudhury was asked to cover the elections for NDTV on a bus. The election bus planned to travel fifty kilometers each day for sixty days covering 3,000 kilometers. Two teams aboard the bus were scheduled to produce a half-hour show every weekday prior to the May 2009 elections. Though the bus did not travel as planned, the stories and people that come to the surface are worth the adventure. The bus drove to places on and off the map. For locations neglected for years by politicians, just the fact that NDTV decided to bring a bright red bus to their constituency was a powerful symbol.

While the story is entertaining and the writing is clear, Braking News is less about the places and people Choudhury meets on the way, and more about her own journey. As a result, it is easy to become annoyed with the author and her desire for modern comforts, such as a clean toilet. Nonetheless, some chapters are more descriptive than others and reveal the heart of contrasts amidst the Indian subcontinent. The women of Gujjarland insist that Choudhury cut wheat before agreeing to do an interview. At one point Choudhury stops a man on a motorcycle who she believes to be a dacoit (thief) to ask him about the gun he is carrying, and in another segment she interviews people in the village of Shivgarh who have cell phones and DVD players despite having no electricity.

Choudhury touches occasionally on gender and the vast differences that exist for women between the cities and villages of India. For example, in the state of Haryana, she interviews young women who do not vote until they are married. But near the end she speaks to a woman who is living a privileged, single lifestyle. As a woman, Choudhury is allowed into private kitchen spaces where she meets village women on a level that would not be accessible to male reporters. And instead of seeing them all as exploited, she begins to see that they too have power and agency, albeit in a different manner than she experiences.

Choudhury concludes Braking News by arguing that if journalists truly want to report on what is occurring around them, they must go out and see the world. They must be willing to risk being dirty, hot, and tired, which on some level (despite the posh hotels) is exactly what the NDTV election bus did.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, July 19th 2010

Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Pavan K. Varma

Penguin Books

Pavan K. Varma’s most recent book, Becoming Indian, argues that cultural freedom has eluded formerly colonized nations, specifically India. He sees a need for a cultural revolution in India. Although it reads at times like an extended opinion piece, Varma makes convincing arguments highlighting the importance of reclaiming language, architecture, and art in a way that empowers indigenous knowledge rather than oppressing it. He examines concepts and examples related to language, architecture, and art with regard to modern Indian history, contemporary events, and personal experiences.

Varma believes that the real strength of empires lay in the colonization of minds, and he views modern history as one that has resulted in cultural and ideological consequences. He explores how English has become a tool for upward mobility and questions the cost, as the loss of one’s own language is seen as a gain in India. He uses the example of young people performing Shakespeare in English with no knowledge of theatre in their own languages to illustrate this pervasive ignorance. He also compares the success of writing in English to the sure failure of writing in Indian mother tongues to illustrate a flaw in today’s Indian value systems. Convincingly, he critiques the concept of providing important information, such as health and traffic signs on the highways, in English.

Although India has been independent since 1947, Varma argues that colonialism persists in the realms of language, politics, and self-image. Varma believes that globalization is leading to the desire for a homogeneous identity. To counteract this, he believes it is important to know one’s cultural roots in order to move forward into the future.

From a feminist perspective, it is interesting to note the ways in which the British have historically seen Indians as effeminate, and thus treated them with less respect. The power dynamics within post-colonial societies are especially tricky as colonization has already permeated people’s minds. According to Varma’s arguments, what may be necessary is not only a contemporary Indian cultural revolution but also one that involves all sectors of society, from the lowest to the highest castes and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, May 22nd 2010

Women, Gender and Disaster: Global Issues and Initiatives

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:02:00 +0000

Edited by Elaine Enarson, P.G. Dhar Chakrabarti

Sage Publications

Women, Gender and Disaster provides a comprehensive overview of the role gender plays in various disaster situations. Case studies and essays are divided into four parts—Understanding Gender Relations in Disaster, Gendered Challenges and Responses in Disasters, Women's Organised Initiatives, and Gender-Sensitive Disaster Risk Reduction—to further develop the myriad of issues within gender and disaster. Women, Gender and Disaster brings together cross-cultural and grassroots perspectives on both response and reduction, examining what is being done now and what could be done in the future.

While the 380 page book does not keep the reader at the edge of her seat wondering what will happen next, it does provide several concrete examples and contexts that illustrate the importance of maintaining an awareness of gender in preparing for, during, and after disaster situations. The book gives important case studies and examples for those working in the disaster management field, policy makers, academics, and students alike.

In a forward by Salvano Briceno, the Director of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, he discusses the expected rise in disasters in the coming years. Briceno also highlights the fact that women and men are affected differently by disasters, and suggests that Women, Gender and Disaster be used as a movement. While it is difficult to make a movement out of stagnant words, the stories, themes, and lessons learned from the case studies prove to be intertwined and interdependent, prompting even myself, a mere novice when it comes to disaster-risk management, to learn more.

Beginning with a foundational analysis, part one looks at gender and how it is differentiated from sex and sexuality. In addition, gender is examined with relation to sustainable development, and a history of conferences and workshops is provided to give the reader a greater understanding of the context. Part two looks at specific challenges, drawing from various case studies including, but not limited to: Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua, floods in New Zealand, and Hurricane Katrina in the US. Part three focuses on specific initiatives by women’s groups. One author looks at peer learning in the aftermath of earthquakes in both Turkey and India. A case study of India’s Self Employed Women’s Association is also used to show the evolution of women responding to disasters. Part four takes a closer look at theoretical and operational concerns by examining three case studies and providing two action plans for mainstreaming gender in disaster risk management.

While Women, Gender and Disaster explicitly discusses women and gender, there is still more to be explored. A comprehensive study of power dynamics within disaster, going beyond the gendered dichotomy of male and female, and taking into account socioeconomic status, race, caste, and other overlapping systems of domination could greatly contribute to examining disaster with a truly feminist lens.

Written by: Lakshmi Saracino, March 3rd 2010