Reforming the Canon of Gender

through Ismat Chughtai’s

‘Lihaaf’
Presenters:
Dr. Charul Jain, Associate Professor, Dept of English, M.S. University of Baroda
&
Mr. Arghya Chakraborty, Assistant Professor, School of International
Cooperation, Security and Strategic Languages, Rashtriya Raksha University.
 Queer Theory
• Power operated to legitimize certain expressions of sexuality and gender.
• Referred to as the "deconstruction" of LGBTQ+ studies.
• Follows and expands on feminist theory by rejecting the notion that
sexuality and gender identity are essentialist categories defined by
biology.
• Categorization into "normal" or "deviant" sexualities or gender
• Primary concern in Gender Studies and Queer Theory.
 Judith Butler’s ‘Gender Performativity’
• Gender is performative.
• Traits that are associated with a particular gender evolve over time.
• Pink was regarded as a common shade for boys, but in recent years, the
same color is seen as typical for girls.
• Gender does not remain constant over time.
• Power is founded on subjugation and subject development and is shaped
by one’s behavior towards societal change.
 Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaaf’
• Noteworthy example of ‘Queer Writing’ from the pre-independence era.
• Breaks the standards of heteronormative society.
• Relationship between Begum Jaan and Nawab and their sexual
preferences.
 Lihaaf
• Gendered acts gradually shape a person's identity, and make a special
point of the ongoing marginalization of women.
• Queer love becomes a challenge for women in hegemonic culture.
• Begum Jaan’s lesbian relationship with Rabbu in contrast to Nawab’s
homosexual relationship with young boys.
• Hypocrisy of bourgeois male-dominated religious practices.
 Gender in ‘Lihaaf’
• Gender in a patriarchal culture.
• Society unable to make allowances for a woman’s problems
• Begum Jaan’s transitions from being an object to subject.
• New Woman: challenges the heteronormative nature of man-woman
relationships.
Reshaping the established canon of Gender
• Begum Jaan defies her traditional role in the society.
• Begum Jaan using a woman’s language.
• A powerful painter of a woman who struggles in contemporary society.
• Lesbian action taking place behind the quilt’s cover.
• ‘Lihaaf’/ ‘Quilt’: To protect oneself from conservatism.
• Women’s need for her sexual fulfillment.
 Conclusion
• Strong female friendship between Begum Jaan and Rabbu.
• Evolution of complex masculinity and femininity matrices.
• Reconstruction and reassertion of femininity.
• Elimination of the authoritative approach of male-centredness.