Menon Nirmala | Indian Institute of Technology Indore (original) (raw)
Research Interests:
Postcolonial Theory
Cosmopolitanism
Literature
Translation Theory
Translation work
Literature in Translation
Indian Literature in English
Indian literature in languages other than English
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Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
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Papers by Menon Nirmala
In India, Hindi cinema engages in discourse of postcolonial representation that is sometimes illu... more In India, Hindi cinema engages in discourse of postcolonial representation that is sometimes illuminating, other times, frustrating but always interesting. These films serve as cultural texts that as Kavita Daiya points out "constitute a dominant public sphere account which inscribes, mediates and prescribes particular normative conceptions of ethnic coupledom, gendered citizenship, nationalism and secularism" (Daiya 152). Daiya is referring particularly to partition narratives but her analysis can be extended to other forms of representation as well. Specifically, the history of Muslim representation in Hindi cinema has too often oscillated between the hopelessness of peripheralized experiences or utopian imaginings of peace and non-violent belongings. Two varied representations demonstrate parallel genres of mainstream Hindi cinema (or Bollywood) and serious films, piquantly called "art films" in an earlier time. 1 As Madhava Prasad, Kavita Daiya and others have demonstrated, Hindi film history has had a tangible role in the national cultural agenda often aligning with the political agenda of a secular republic.
One defining question links the essays of this collection: How do aesthetic and stylistic choices... more One defining question links the essays of this collection: How do aesthetic and stylistic choices perform the condition of dislocation of the
migrant and, in doing so, also put pressure on the seemingly global promise of cosmopolitanism?
Migrant Identities of «Creole Cosmopolitans»:
Transcultural Narratives of Contemporary Postcoloniality
offers a wide array of narratives that complicate the rhetoric of cosmopolitanism and
the related discourses of «hybridity». Many such narratives are under-theorized migrations, such as Dalit narratives from India and inter-island
migrations in the Caribbean. Collectively, the essays suggest that there are ways in which the forms of the migrant aesthetics, language, and
imaginaries may offer new insights in the interactions between practices and discourses of hybridity and cosmopolitanism by examining their
precise points of intersection and divergence. This inquiry is especially timely because it raises questions about the circulation, marketing, and
consumption of narratives of migration, dislocation, and «diaspora.»
In addition, the collection addresses in at least two significant ways the question about «beyond postcolonialism» and the future of the discipline.
First, by questioning and critically examining some foundational theories in postcolonialism, it points to possible new directions in our theoretical
vocabulary. Second, it offers an array of reflections around disparate geographies that are, equally importantly, written in different languages.
The value that the authors place on languages other than English and their choice to focus on the effect that multiple languages have on
the present of postcolonial studies are in line with one of the aims of the collection – to make the case for a multilingual expansion of the
postcolonial imaginary as a necessary imperative
In India, Hindi cinema engages in discourse of postcolonial representation that is sometimes illu... more In India, Hindi cinema engages in discourse of postcolonial representation that is sometimes illuminating, other times, frustrating but always interesting. These films serve as cultural texts that as Kavita Daiya points out "constitute a dominant public sphere account which inscribes, mediates and prescribes particular normative conceptions of ethnic coupledom, gendered citizenship, nationalism and secularism" (Daiya 152). Daiya is referring particularly to partition narratives but her analysis can be extended to other forms of representation as well. Specifically, the history of Muslim representation in Hindi cinema has too often oscillated between the hopelessness of peripheralized experiences or utopian imaginings of peace and non-violent belongings. Two varied representations demonstrate parallel genres of mainstream Hindi cinema (or Bollywood) and serious films, piquantly called "art films" in an earlier time. 1 As Madhava Prasad, Kavita Daiya and others have demonstrated, Hindi film history has had a tangible role in the national cultural agenda often aligning with the political agenda of a secular republic.
One defining question links the essays of this collection: How do aesthetic and stylistic choices... more One defining question links the essays of this collection: How do aesthetic and stylistic choices perform the condition of dislocation of the
migrant and, in doing so, also put pressure on the seemingly global promise of cosmopolitanism?
Migrant Identities of «Creole Cosmopolitans»:
Transcultural Narratives of Contemporary Postcoloniality
offers a wide array of narratives that complicate the rhetoric of cosmopolitanism and
the related discourses of «hybridity». Many such narratives are under-theorized migrations, such as Dalit narratives from India and inter-island
migrations in the Caribbean. Collectively, the essays suggest that there are ways in which the forms of the migrant aesthetics, language, and
imaginaries may offer new insights in the interactions between practices and discourses of hybridity and cosmopolitanism by examining their
precise points of intersection and divergence. This inquiry is especially timely because it raises questions about the circulation, marketing, and
consumption of narratives of migration, dislocation, and «diaspora.»
In addition, the collection addresses in at least two significant ways the question about «beyond postcolonialism» and the future of the discipline.
First, by questioning and critically examining some foundational theories in postcolonialism, it points to possible new directions in our theoretical
vocabulary. Second, it offers an array of reflections around disparate geographies that are, equally importantly, written in different languages.
The value that the authors place on languages other than English and their choice to focus on the effect that multiple languages have on
the present of postcolonial studies are in line with one of the aims of the collection – to make the case for a multilingual expansion of the
postcolonial imaginary as a necessary imperative