Mansi Grover | Jamia Millia Islamia (original) (raw)
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Papers by Mansi Grover
Routledge eBooks, Nov 6, 2023
Affective World Making: Routing Planetary Thought, , 2024
Disability evokes a gamut of discrete and non-discrete emotions in an ableist landscape. The firs... more Disability evokes a gamut of discrete and non-discrete emotions in an ableist landscape. The first interaction between the disabled and non-disabled is a stare coming from the vantage point of a non-disabled person who has internalized ableism all his life. Staring as an act is triggered by the sight of someone who stands out as different, and challenges the status quo by its mere existence. Taking cues from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s conceptualization of staring, the paper examines the intense visual engagement between a non-disabled and a disabled, giving rise to a circuit of communication and meaning-making between them. The paper explores how a mere staring encounter could help us to locate and retrospect the fundamental question of what is a normative body and how it comes into being. The paper problematizes the effect of a disabled body in an able-bodied ‘normative’ landscape, thus probing into categories of normal and abnormal. The paper borrows examples from Hindi Cinema to expose the aversive emotions that populate the non-disabled imaginary. It looks into fear, pity, and disgust as the defining emotions that drive the imagination that goes into creating a disabled character.
Retrieving the Crip Outsider: Representations of Disability in Literature and Culture, Bloomsbury India, 2024
David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder elucidate on the oversimplified representation of deafness as an... more David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder elucidate on the oversimplified representation of deafness as an inability to talk and see deafness as a master trope of human disqualification. Deafness is a condition where a person has a hearing impairment that affects the basic human function of communication. The ableist hearing world creates a metanarrative of deficiency and inadequacy around deafness making deaf people unfit to take up societal roles and meet societal expectations. The chapter attempts to probe Deaf identities through a select few Hindi films, such as Koshish (1972), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), and Black (2005). The chapter will examine the representation of deaf characters in these three films in their sheer materiality and not indulge in a metaphorical reading of deafness. The chapter will investigate the complex nature of deafness and whether it should be categorized as a disability or not in an audist world. It will further try to locate the significance of Deaf ontologies and Deaf epistemologies to understand Deaf bodies as linguistically diverse. Deaf ontologies lay importance on understanding and not-understanding in a deaf person’s life which a hearing person would usually take for granted. Communication becomes a major hindrance for a deaf person in a hearing world, therefore, Deaf sociality takes center stage for a deaf person making it an important aspect of Deaf identity. The chapter will explore the way Deaf sociality is rarely granted and often denied to the deaf characters in the films.
Cultures of Ageing: Ageism in India, Routledge India, 2024
The chapter is created in the form of a group discussion, a free-wheeling chat among the actors f... more The chapter is created in the form of a group discussion, a free-wheeling chat among the actors from a Delhi-based theatre group, Atelier Theatre. The actors ponder over the diverse methods that they use to perform at a particular age, how they prepare for their roles, and what are they more comfortable with, ageing down or up. The difference in ageing up and down is elucidated in detail, as how it is different for a senior actor, a middle-aged actor, and a younger actor. It explores how the actors try to negotiate with implicit ageism and create a character of their own, which is not a stereotypical or caricatured one. Apart from this, there is a comprehensive conversation with the Creative Director of the group about the theatrical exercises used during the rehearsals to help an actor gain control over the body to be ready to play a free-spirited kid or a stooped geriatric elderly. It also delves into casting actors as age-fluid, breaking age-related boundaries and stereotypes, facilitating an actor to explore and expand one's range. Further, it attempts to trace the gaps and slippages in the representation of ageing down or up onstage by locating the areas that have gone unnoticed.
Rethinking Inclusive Education, Accessibility and Employment Policies in Relation To Persons with Visual Impairment, 2022
The paper would problematize the representation of blindness in a few selected Hindi films that d... more The paper would problematize the representation of blindness in a few selected Hindi films that deal with the centrality of vision and are ingrained with ableist stereotypes and metaphors that equate blindness with darkness and as some kind of lack. The paper would contest the ocular-centric ideas pervading through popular Hindi cinema where a heterosexual blind woman is depicted as weak and is waiting for a male saviour who would redeem her of this retribution and would take her towards the gift of eyesight. It would also probe into the idea of 'cure' and how a woman becomes acceptable to take up roles only when she gains her eyesight back. This is a common trope found in popular Hindi films where the film revolves around the narrative of finding a 'cure' for the female protagonist and the film ends with 'overcoming' the disability narrative. The paper would analyze the circulation of images of women with blindness through films that go a long way in the formation of attitudes towards them and would challenge the hegemony of normalcy
Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 2017
The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The st... more The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The stigmatization of a disabled body creates a non-disabled heteronormative imaginary that is uncomfortable with a disabled having sexual relations and the contestation increases threefold when it is a homosexual relationship between two disabled women. It also looks at the connection between heterosexuality and able-bodied identity.It tries to analyze the censorship of certain scenes in the film, Margarita with a Straw, directed by Shonali Bose. Through the character of Laila the paper investigates the controversial intersection of disability and sexuality. It also looks at issues related to body and self, pertaining to disability.
The paper analyses the meaning of a sufi and his struggles against the status quo. It also invest... more The paper analyses the meaning of a sufi and his struggles against the status quo. It also investigates the use of female transgressive voice by the poets. Various examples would include myths of Heer-Ranjha and Sassi-Punnu. The paper investigates the writings of various sufi poets who used a female persona to project a non-conformist voice against the hegemonic structures.
Paripex Indian Journal of Research, May 1, 2015
Thenovel is set in the historical setting of Lucknowthat depicts its decadence through the eyes o... more Thenovel is set in the historical setting of Lucknowthat depicts its decadence through the eyes of the various characters, making Lucknow, the hero of the text. There is no direct reference to the conflict of 1857 but the readers come across the incident through the conversations between the characters, which bring the novel under the genre of social realism.
International Journal of Research, May 20, 2015
The paper would be dealing with the films of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was one of the most popular... more The paper would be dealing with the films of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was one of the most popular actors and directors of the modernist and postmodernist era. He started with silent films and later on went to make talkies.
Book Reviews by Mansi Grover
Fortell Journal: Journal of Teaching English Language and Literature, 2023
The book Media and Communication: A Handbook for Students is specifically curated for the Generic... more The book Media and Communication: A Handbook for Students is specifically curated for the Generic Elective paper for undergraduate courses and constitutes critical essays, case studies, and supplementary material providing wider perspectives. The editors, Guntasha K. Tulsi and Nidhi Madan, have insightfully anthologized the articles together in a book with an interesting thought-provoking cover designed by Tanya Verma. The cover of the book gives a glimpse into the broad category of 'Mass Media' and the variety of topics it encompasses, ranging from print media to digital technology.
Routledge eBooks, Nov 6, 2023
Affective World Making: Routing Planetary Thought, , 2024
Disability evokes a gamut of discrete and non-discrete emotions in an ableist landscape. The firs... more Disability evokes a gamut of discrete and non-discrete emotions in an ableist landscape. The first interaction between the disabled and non-disabled is a stare coming from the vantage point of a non-disabled person who has internalized ableism all his life. Staring as an act is triggered by the sight of someone who stands out as different, and challenges the status quo by its mere existence. Taking cues from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s conceptualization of staring, the paper examines the intense visual engagement between a non-disabled and a disabled, giving rise to a circuit of communication and meaning-making between them. The paper explores how a mere staring encounter could help us to locate and retrospect the fundamental question of what is a normative body and how it comes into being. The paper problematizes the effect of a disabled body in an able-bodied ‘normative’ landscape, thus probing into categories of normal and abnormal. The paper borrows examples from Hindi Cinema to expose the aversive emotions that populate the non-disabled imaginary. It looks into fear, pity, and disgust as the defining emotions that drive the imagination that goes into creating a disabled character.
Retrieving the Crip Outsider: Representations of Disability in Literature and Culture, Bloomsbury India, 2024
David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder elucidate on the oversimplified representation of deafness as an... more David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder elucidate on the oversimplified representation of deafness as an inability to talk and see deafness as a master trope of human disqualification. Deafness is a condition where a person has a hearing impairment that affects the basic human function of communication. The ableist hearing world creates a metanarrative of deficiency and inadequacy around deafness making deaf people unfit to take up societal roles and meet societal expectations. The chapter attempts to probe Deaf identities through a select few Hindi films, such as Koshish (1972), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), and Black (2005). The chapter will examine the representation of deaf characters in these three films in their sheer materiality and not indulge in a metaphorical reading of deafness. The chapter will investigate the complex nature of deafness and whether it should be categorized as a disability or not in an audist world. It will further try to locate the significance of Deaf ontologies and Deaf epistemologies to understand Deaf bodies as linguistically diverse. Deaf ontologies lay importance on understanding and not-understanding in a deaf person’s life which a hearing person would usually take for granted. Communication becomes a major hindrance for a deaf person in a hearing world, therefore, Deaf sociality takes center stage for a deaf person making it an important aspect of Deaf identity. The chapter will explore the way Deaf sociality is rarely granted and often denied to the deaf characters in the films.
Cultures of Ageing: Ageism in India, Routledge India, 2024
The chapter is created in the form of a group discussion, a free-wheeling chat among the actors f... more The chapter is created in the form of a group discussion, a free-wheeling chat among the actors from a Delhi-based theatre group, Atelier Theatre. The actors ponder over the diverse methods that they use to perform at a particular age, how they prepare for their roles, and what are they more comfortable with, ageing down or up. The difference in ageing up and down is elucidated in detail, as how it is different for a senior actor, a middle-aged actor, and a younger actor. It explores how the actors try to negotiate with implicit ageism and create a character of their own, which is not a stereotypical or caricatured one. Apart from this, there is a comprehensive conversation with the Creative Director of the group about the theatrical exercises used during the rehearsals to help an actor gain control over the body to be ready to play a free-spirited kid or a stooped geriatric elderly. It also delves into casting actors as age-fluid, breaking age-related boundaries and stereotypes, facilitating an actor to explore and expand one's range. Further, it attempts to trace the gaps and slippages in the representation of ageing down or up onstage by locating the areas that have gone unnoticed.
Rethinking Inclusive Education, Accessibility and Employment Policies in Relation To Persons with Visual Impairment, 2022
The paper would problematize the representation of blindness in a few selected Hindi films that d... more The paper would problematize the representation of blindness in a few selected Hindi films that deal with the centrality of vision and are ingrained with ableist stereotypes and metaphors that equate blindness with darkness and as some kind of lack. The paper would contest the ocular-centric ideas pervading through popular Hindi cinema where a heterosexual blind woman is depicted as weak and is waiting for a male saviour who would redeem her of this retribution and would take her towards the gift of eyesight. It would also probe into the idea of 'cure' and how a woman becomes acceptable to take up roles only when she gains her eyesight back. This is a common trope found in popular Hindi films where the film revolves around the narrative of finding a 'cure' for the female protagonist and the film ends with 'overcoming' the disability narrative. The paper would analyze the circulation of images of women with blindness through films that go a long way in the formation of attitudes towards them and would challenge the hegemony of normalcy
Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 2017
The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The st... more The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The stigmatization of a disabled body creates a non-disabled heteronormative imaginary that is uncomfortable with a disabled having sexual relations and the contestation increases threefold when it is a homosexual relationship between two disabled women. It also looks at the connection between heterosexuality and able-bodied identity.It tries to analyze the censorship of certain scenes in the film, Margarita with a Straw, directed by Shonali Bose. Through the character of Laila the paper investigates the controversial intersection of disability and sexuality. It also looks at issues related to body and self, pertaining to disability.
The paper analyses the meaning of a sufi and his struggles against the status quo. It also invest... more The paper analyses the meaning of a sufi and his struggles against the status quo. It also investigates the use of female transgressive voice by the poets. Various examples would include myths of Heer-Ranjha and Sassi-Punnu. The paper investigates the writings of various sufi poets who used a female persona to project a non-conformist voice against the hegemonic structures.
Paripex Indian Journal of Research, May 1, 2015
Thenovel is set in the historical setting of Lucknowthat depicts its decadence through the eyes o... more Thenovel is set in the historical setting of Lucknowthat depicts its decadence through the eyes of the various characters, making Lucknow, the hero of the text. There is no direct reference to the conflict of 1857 but the readers come across the incident through the conversations between the characters, which bring the novel under the genre of social realism.
International Journal of Research, May 20, 2015
The paper would be dealing with the films of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was one of the most popular... more The paper would be dealing with the films of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was one of the most popular actors and directors of the modernist and postmodernist era. He started with silent films and later on went to make talkies.
Fortell Journal: Journal of Teaching English Language and Literature, 2023
The book Media and Communication: A Handbook for Students is specifically curated for the Generic... more The book Media and Communication: A Handbook for Students is specifically curated for the Generic Elective paper for undergraduate courses and constitutes critical essays, case studies, and supplementary material providing wider perspectives. The editors, Guntasha K. Tulsi and Nidhi Madan, have insightfully anthologized the articles together in a book with an interesting thought-provoking cover designed by Tanya Verma. The cover of the book gives a glimpse into the broad category of 'Mass Media' and the variety of topics it encompasses, ranging from print media to digital technology.