Masculinity, Caste and Gender: An Intersectional Feminist Reading of Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess

Abstract

The facets of repressions or resistance have been a perpetual confrontation in the structures drawn by social and cultural hierarchies and this is primarily due to the intervention of Patriarchy. Being the controlling ascendency, compounded discrimination of womankind is often, drawn by Male members of the society. The text taken for study, “The Gypsy Goddess”, by Meena Kandasamy is set against the backdrop of the 1968, Kilvenmani massacre in Tamilnadu. This meta narrative unveils the caste-based hierarchies where patriarchy predominantly converges to disseminate violence against Dalit community women. By employing the lens of Intersectionality, the study analyses the multiple operations of hegemony in tandem. Besides, this paper also probes into the concept of Hegemonic masculinity that legitimizes male dominance not only over women, but also on oppressed ‘other’ men. The text examines the entanglement of patriarchy, gender, and caste through the lens of Structural Intersectionality (Crenshaw) and Hegemonic Masculinity (Connell). The oeuvre articulates how felonies of the hegemonic class can be shrunk to demeanors, even after public incinerations and mass killings. In conjunction with, basing the narrative on the inevitable tapestry of social and cultural infusion, Kandasamy silhouettes the resilience and fortitude of Dalit farmers, especially the women peasants who set off to fight back any oddity. Behind the multifarious factors of oppression which in turn depoliticize the carnage of forty-four lives, there ‘lies’ cultural control. The cultural marginalization thus shapes societal attitudes. With limited or no access to mobility, economic resources and education, there are yet, many caste-based snares under culture and society, exercised by patriarchy. Consequently, the text articulates a clarinet call of history repeating itself which is detailed in the analysis. Nevertheless, the narration emphasizes the action for change by dint of the portrayal of female fraternity.