Abstract
This article explores recent histories of masculine cultures in India. The discussion proceeds through outlining the most significant sites of the making of masculinity discourses during the colonial, the immediate post-colonial as well as the contemporary period. The immediate present is explored through an investigation of the the media persona of India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Through constructing a narrative of Indian modernity that draws upon diverse contexts -- such as colonial discourses about natives, anti-colonial nationalism, and post-colonial discourses of economic planning, 'liberalization' and consumerism -- the article illustrates the multiple locations of masculinity politics. Further, the exploration of relationships between economic, political and social contexts also seeks to blur the boundaries between them, thereby initiating a methodological dialogue regarding the study of masculinities. The article also seeks to point out that while there are continuities between the (colonial) past and the (post-colonial) present, the manner in which the past is utilised for the purposes of the present relates to performances and contexts in the present. Finally, the article suggests there is no linear history of masculinity, rather that the uses of the past in the present allow us to understand the prolix and circular ways in which the present is constituted.
Highlights
This article explores recent histories of masculine cultures in India
Through constructing a narrative of Indian modernity that draws upon diverse contexts -- such as colonial discourses about natives, anti-colonial nationalism, and post-colonial discourses of economic planning, 'liberalization' and consumerism -- the article illustrates the multiple locations of masculinity politics
This article has sought to provide an account of Indian masculine cultures as a history of Indian modernity and its multiple registers
Summary
Este artículo explora historias recientes de las culturas masculinas en la India. La discusión continúa a través de esbozar los sitios más importantes de la elaboración donde se han concretado los discursos de masculinidad durante el periodo de colonización, la post-colonialización inmediata y en la actualidad. T his article seeks to explore cultures of masculinity in India through investigating relationships between different kinds of histories and political economies that characterise Indian modernity. These relationships emerge out of a number of contexts, including the social symbolism of the post-colonial state, the politics of ‘Indian traditions’, ideas regarding economic planning and the ‘free’ market, and articulations between new consumer cultures, family forms and individual subjectivity. Dominant masculinity stands in a relationship not just to femininity and to those ways of being male that are seen to deviate from the ideal It is in this sense that masculinity possesses both external (relating to women) as well as an internal (relating to ‘other’ men) characteristics. It is not exhaustive in scope and is intended, rather, as a selective introduction to the topic that is, indicative of significant themes and preoccupations within Indian society
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