Theorising Resistance and Creativity

By Jasbir Jain
Jasbir Jain
 Jasbir Jain (born 1937) is a writer and director of the
Institute for Research in Interdisciplinary Studies, Jaipur. She
is the recipient of many awards and fellowships and has
authored several books including Theorising Resistance:
Narratives in History and Politics (2012), Indigenous Roots of
Feminism: Culture, Subjectivity and Agency (2011), Beyond
Postcolonialism: Dreams and Realities of a Nation (2006), and
Gendered Realities, Human Spaces (2003)
The paper was presented at a Plenary session
of Comparative Literature Association of
India’s International conference at Central
University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, March
2011.
 As the title suggests, the paper deals with the
role of resistance and creativity. It further
stresses on the interaction between intellect,
imagination and experience.
 Jasbir Jain takes the case of several artist and
writers one by one and delineates the manner
in which they resisted the social structures.
She examines the techniques used in their
works.
 In the article she deals with the life and works
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, M.F Husain, Girish
Karnad, and Anand Patwardhan .
 The paper begins with the definition of
resistance and the fate that awaits resistance.
The author defines resistance as “non-
conformism, protest, propaganda,
commitment, criticism” (1).
 She wishes to liberate resistance from the
narrow confines of postcolonial studies.
 She links resistance to exile by stating that
“All situations of oppression have pushed
artists to resist, if not by all else through
exile”(2).
 The author first takes into consideration
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
 Bonhoeffer was a protestant priest, known for
his staunch opposition to Nazi regime. He
was a founding member of Confessing
Church. In order to escape Nazi conscription
he escaped the country but returned one
month later to be put in prison where he
died.
 During his imprisonment he wrote a novel
and a play. His works dealt with the debate
between people from different classes.
 In his play he questions the ideals of
revolution and the terror and disruption that
come as aftermath.
 His works also challenge the idea of sacrifice/
martyrdom and their role in resistance.
 “Bonhoeffer shifted the focus from religion to
faith, and from war to peace, thus
highlighting the need for a shift in mindsets”
(3).
 The next artist under consideration is M.F
Husain. Husain was a painter and a world
renown artist. His works were deemed
controversial and faced opposition.
 His paintings of ‘Bharat Mata’, Mother Teresa
and Indian goddesses attracted controversy.
 The threats caused him to leave India, and
live in self imposed exile in Dubai and
London.
 The author stresses the secular upbringing of
Husain and his fascination with Upanishads,
Bhagawad Gita , and the Ramayana.
 The author holds that Husain was “impatient
to experiment with the new forms and new
language of art”. He used religious figures as
“natural material of art”.
 She is of the view that Husain “resisted all
that was archaic and dogmatic… Through
newness and shock, he wished to provoke
response”
 His works manifest imagination, used to
create something new.
 Husain’s imagination as evident in his works
were recipient of controversy.
 This leads the author back to Stephen
Slemon’s question whether resistance lies in
interpretation or in the work.
 Jasbir Jain stresses that in interpretation the
question of aesthetic beauty and obscenity
should be analyzed.
 She avers that “Resistance is integral to the
meaning of good/classical art, but find a
realisation of its true meaning through
responsive reading and interpretation” (4).
 The author next turns to verbal art, through
the works of Girish Karnad. She takes into
consideration Karnad’s “Talé‐Danda” and “The
Fire and the Rain”.
 Karnad was a playwright and an actor. His
works dealt with contemporary issues. He
makes frequent use of myths in his works.
 Tale Danda, is set in 1168, in the city of
Kalyan, Karnataka. The play brings out
rebellion against the caste system that took
place under the leadership of Basavanna.
However the rebellion ends in ruin, due to the
violence it ensues.
 The rebellion of the prince against the king,
Bijala and Basavanna’s rebellion against the
caste system in support to the marriage
between a cobbler’s son and a Brahmin girl-
both end in deaths and ruin.
• Similarly in “The Fire and the Rain”, Karnad
deals with the issues like “caste, purity, power,
anger and the continuity of the revenge
tradition” (5).
• The characters like Aravasu and Nittilai bring
out the aspect of sacrifice and question the social
realities.
Anand Patwardhan
 The author next analyses documentaries, as
acts of resistance.
 Jasbir Jain is of the view that documentaries
are by nature open and have direct
communication with the audience.
 She highlights, the use of alienation effect in
documentaries as a means of social
critiquing.
 Alienation effect is the use of innovative
theatrical techniques to make familiar strange
and evoke a social critical response from the
audience.
 She examines the works of Anand
Patwardhan, whose works are full of
resistance.
 His works deal with controversial issues.
Ram Ke Naam deals with the issue of Ram
temple and Babri mosque, and the
violence that it triggered. Jung Aur Aman
deals with the issue of India and Pakistan
and their perusal of nuclear/ atomic
bomb. Fishing in the Sea of Greed
underlines the issue of traditional fishing
community being sidelined by gigantic
fishing ships.
• Patwardhan concerns himself with the issue of
Hindu- Muslim conflict, globalization and
gender.
• Due to the controversial themes of his works, all
his documentaries had to undergo legal battles.
• Jasbir Jain holds that Patwardhan works were
beyond propaganda, as they bring out opposing
perspective and unheard voices.
Conclusion
• All these works of art show resistance, as they
present critique of dominant social structures.
• According to Jasbir Jain resistance is an indication
of society being alive. Resistance addresses itself
with “the blindness of power” as it brings out
divergent point of view.
• The author concludes the paper stressing the
essential nature of resistance to art stating that “It is
integral to the value of art as much to the value of
life as it brings together the individual and the
social, the emotional and the intellectual, as feeling
and thoughts are woven together” (9).
A Phoenix Called Resistance: Aesthetics
versus Meaning

By Jasbir Jain
 This article explores an intellectual’s role as an
interrogator and the reader’s through the act of
responsive reading, enabling a connection across
the passage of time. It seeks to free resistance
from the confines of postcolonial discourse and
to place it in the interaction between the
individual and contemporary socio‐political
constructs.
 Analysis focuses on Girish Karnad’s Talé‐Danda,
while Raja Rao’s novel Kanthapura, Hanif
Kureishi’s story “My Son the Fanatic” and other
narratives which illustrate the argument that
resistance is integral to writing. The article
concludes by showing how fantasy, myth and
history are used as resistance strategies to
generate counter‐discourses to hegemonic
structures.
 There is a very bleak line differentiating
resistance and fundamentalism.
 The latter is marked by fixity while the other
is by fluidity.
 The author begins this article stating the
need to free the discourse of resistance from
the confines of postcoloniality. Resistance
should be placed within the aesthetics of
literature.
 Resistance can be located in any socio-
historic climate
 Through E. M Forster’s A Passage to India, the
author raises questions regarding “reading,
interpretation and location in both time and
interpretation” (11).
 She stresses that Forster’s A Passage to India,
provides occasion to various interpretations.
She cites that David Lean’s film based on the
novel presents it from imperial perspective,
while a modern Indian reader would reveal
the “hollow liberal ideologies” of the imperial
England.
 Resistance incorporates oppositional poetics,
i.e., critically active stance against forms of
domination.
 The possible multiple interpretations disprove
the presence of self contained text.
 “A focus on oppositional relationships
between the imperial and the colonial limits
both literature and interpretation. It ignores
the dissidence, non- conformity and
resistance within narrow concerns” (12).
Part II
 The second part of the article takes into consideration Girish
Karnad’s Talé‐Danda, which questions hegemony.
 The play about 12th century Kalyan, introduces cites of
resistance, both political as well as social.
 The play focuses on rebellion. On hand there is a political
rebellion against the king Bijala, by his son Sovideva. On the
other hand there is a social rebellion against the caste system
led by revolutionary Basavanna and his followers.
 These two rebellions form the core of the play. One
movement is of social change and the other political.
However both the revolutions end in violence and
deaths.
 The author takes another example of rebellion and
that is of Raja Rao’s Kanthapura.
 Kanthapura is a novel about India’s freedom
movement. It is narrated by Achakka, an old woman,
in the form of sthala-purana.
 The protagonist of the novel is Moorthy who follows
Gandhian principles and leads a non- violent struggle against
British rule as well as the caste system.
 Violence plays an important role in the novel, as it acts as a
incites the movement.
 This leads to the contention that literary resistance has been
used to critique ideologies. A Variety of genres like fantasy,
surrealism etc. are being used in literature to present
counter discourse.
III
 The third part begins with an evaluation of resistance in
Hanif Kureishi’s story “My Son the Fanatic”.
 The story is about an immigrant father Parvez and his son Ali
in London. While Ali is more focused on Islam, Parvez seeks
inculcation in the western culture. This causes a fallout
between the father and son.
 Parvez’s behavior is motivated by an immigrant’s
perspective seeking integration, while Ali stands for
his religion’s recognizable identity.
 The resistance in the novel reflects two contrasting
mindsets. It is against two power structures, the one
is religious and the other racial. They both tries to
establish supremacy and seeks essentialism.
 Resistance and Writers
 Resistance is primordial. It has been in existence since the
beginning of human history. Intellectual resistance is innate
to human growth.
 Intellectuals play an important role in resistance. It is they
who carry the burden of wisdom.
 The author cites example of Mahatma Gandhi, Arthur
Koestler who questioned hegemonic structures.
 Writers share this responsibility.
 “Thus the need to question, to evolve, to review, the refusal
to be limited by an ideology is one characteristic of literary
resistance” (17).
 In the process of resistance the authors have faced
censorship, control and imprisonment. Jasbir Jain
gives examples of Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj,
Mulk Raj Anand’s Two Leaves and a Bud”, Veer
Savarkar’s “The First war of Indian Independence”
 Jasbir Jain avers that resistance is embedded in
narrative strategies. .
Use of Myths and Fantasy
 Writers have used myth, legends, and fantasy to
escape censorship in their quest for resistance.
 The author cites example of various writes who
have used varied literary techniques in their
works
 Rokeya Shakawat Hosain in “Sultan’s Dream”
makes “fun of masculunist position” through the
use of fantasy.
 Mukul Kesavan in Looking Through Glass resists “monolithic
construct of the nation” through fantasy.
 Manzoor Ehtesham in “Sookha Bargad” uses surrealism to deal
with marginalization of Muslim identity.
 Giriraj Kishor’s “Pahle Girmitiya”, which has Gandhi as a
character, describes the awakening of Gandhi’s resistance
movement.
 Mahasweta Devi uses the technique of myth retelling to
construct her narrative of the plight of tribal women and people
in “Draupadi” and “Operation ? Bashai Tudu”
 Resistance and Individualism

 These literary works seek to question monolithic

power structures. It propagates freedom and
humane. They bring to the surface the individual
dreams.
 Resistance is against essentialism and seeks
individualism. It tries to bring out humanistic
discourse amid all the controlling ideologies.
 Resistance is an important part of literature even
when it is not explicit.
Conclusion
 Literature helps resistance in flouting restricted
boundaries, as the author says “ Literature enables
the protest of an isolated situation to cross
boundaries of time and space”
 The author ends the article urging the readers to
“have the responsibility of keeping the
questioning image alive, through response debate,
action and ideology” (22).
Expected questions
 Role of resistance in literature as suggested by Jasbir Jain in
her articles.
 How writers or artists have resisted the hegemonic forces
through literature ?
 Summarize Jasbir Jain’s view on resistance.