Can the subaltern eat?: modernity, masculinity and consumption in the Indian family

Abstract

This article looks at three post-Independence Indian short stories to do with masculine guilt about eating. Looking to alleviate the boredom of their clerical existence, the male protagonists in this fiction seek refuge in a fantasy of consumption focused on foods such as milk, ‘chicken fry’ and sweets. Right when their desires look to be met, however, a clamour of alternative claims on the food compels them to forego fulfilment. What does this narrative pattern say about the postcolonial experience of modernity for lower-middle-class men? Does the inability to consume signify their inability to be subjects in their own right? Or can we see the stories as offering an alternative model of agency located in self-denial? This article examines the complex relationship between masculinity, modernity and consumption to argue for the significance of a provincial masculinity as a subaltern position.