Description
In this paper, I am interested in the changing (gendered) imaginations of the Indian nation with the rising salience of Hindu nationalism, as it appears through film. I make a two-fold argument: (a) I suggest that the figure of Mother India, constructed to some extent in relation to colonial discourses, was always an ambivalent figure. (b) I demonstrate that post 2014, with the rising salience of Hindu nationalism, it is undergoing a transition, ‘crossing over’ (Sjoberg, 2012) to a more masculine imagination, while also retaining her femininity. This ambivalence or in-betweenness is now more explicitly embraced in nationalist discourses, used to negotiate India’s location in the international arena. Here, I put extant literature on gender and nation/nationalisms in conversation with both Bhabha (1994)’s understanding of hybridity as well as queer and trans theory to understand the transitionary, ‘in-between,’ ‘in-flux’ periods of national imaginations. Building on the importance of popular visual culture in shaping nationalist imaginations, I trace this shifting imagination through an analysis of 5 Bollywood movies released during 4 different eras of Indian politics. A discourse analytic approach helps me decipher if there is a shift in how the nation is being described and imagined. I therefore bring together and contribute to literature on gender and nationalism, media and nationalism, feminist IR, visual IR, and queer and trans theory.
