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The land of 'gender paradox'? Getting past the commonsense of contemporary Kerala

DSpace at IIT Bombay

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Title The land of 'gender paradox'? Getting past the commonsense of contemporary Kerala
 
Creator SREEKUMAR, S
 
Subject utopia
dystopia
gender paradox
kerala model of development
tourism
aids
sexual violence
 
Description Gender paradox' in Kerala refers to the 'contradiction' whereby women's high showing in socio-demographic indicators of development exists simultaneously with their low public participation and the increasing incidence of violence upon them. Given that 'gender paradox' has become the overwhelming context for imagining women in Kerala today, this paper seeks to examine its anatomy. The paper argues that there are two divergent descriptions of contemporary Kerala which circulate with comparable energy - Kerala as utopia and as dystopia. Theorisations of paradox bring these two worlds together, but without having sufficiently reckoned with their internal dynamics. Consequently, the paper explores the interiors of these worlds. It examines utopia through two discrete, yet intersecting social discourses - (a) the Kerala model of development and (b) tourism. It then proceeds to examine dystopia through the discourses around AIDS and sexual violence, which tend to be configured in analogous ways. The paper focuses on how women are gendered in these two worlds and concludes that they evoke two very different kinds of women. In the light of these explorations the paper goes on to lay out some of the implications and inadequacies of using gender paradox as the condition for speaking about women in Kerala. It argues that, instead of serving as a site for radical critique and productive feminist politics, gender paradox often become an occasion for conservative re-telling.
 
Publisher ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
 
Date 2011-08-27T11:05:40Z
2011-12-26T12:57:53Z
2011-12-27T05:45:55Z
2011-08-27T11:05:40Z
2011-12-26T12:57:53Z
2011-12-27T05:45:55Z
2007
 
Type Article
 
Identifier INTER-ASIA CULTURAL STUDIES, 8(1), 34-54
1464-9373
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649370601118966
http://dspace.library.iitb.ac.in/xmlui/handle/10054/11644
http://hdl.handle.net/10054/11644
 
Language en