Bibliography on the
Cultural Creation of Identity
Compiled by John Cort
The following four entries
were in response to a request for titles of novels, short stories, and
autobiographical writings on the cultural shaping of gender roles in South
Asia, September 2004.
1. My mind went to a
section of Nirad Chaudhuri's HINDUISM, CH 2, "The Cults of Siva and
Durga-Kali", (before and after p.250) where Chaudhuri tells about his
childhood experiences of learning about Kali and tantric practices
associated with her in the Bengali context. Not strictly about gender
roles but the transcendent offers the model for the mundane in more ways
than we often recognize.
2. Anita Rao Badami's
"The Hero's Walk"; some of the short stories in Shawna Singh
Baldwin's "English Lessons" may be helpful as well; Arundhati
Roy's "God of Small Things"; there is also Chitra Banerjee
Divakaruni's "Sister of My Heart" and (perhaps less relevant for
your student) "Vine of Desire"; for fiction dealing with gender
and sexual identity, see Shyam Selvaduai's "Funny Boy" and
"Cinnamon Gardens" (Selvadurai's work is set in Sri Lanka, but
may be helpful nonetheless); see also Anita Desai's "Fasting,
Feasting".
3. If you don't mind the
distraction of setting the story in the time of partition, you might
consider Amrita Pritam's short story "The Skeleton," which is
available in translation.
4. Karlekar, Malavika,
Voices from Within. Early Personal Narratives of Bengali Women, Delhi 1991
Sarkar, Tanika, Words to Win. The Making of Amar Jiban. A Modern
Autobiography, Delhi, Kali for Women, 1999 (Text and very long
introduction) Both of them concentrate more on the historical aspect of
the question, but they contain lots of further references on the topic of
autobiography and the learning on gender roles.
Revised: November 23, 2004
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