Cultured Experience: Resonating Identity Struggle

Abstract

Gender inequality, a battle constantly fought world-wide from the past to the present times, is a trap, from which women are unable to wade their way completely. The main reason behind this trap being the tension that prevails between the so-called tradition/ culture and assertion of the selfhood. The Culture Trap, a collection of poems by Vidhi Bubna is an exploration of the experiences of women in the Marwari community in Rajasthan. Bubna visits Marwari women’s homes to explore her heritage. However, her visits establish her more as a voice echoing the cultural trap of the 200 Marwari women who have shared their lived experiences. As we read the wide range of poems, we understand how cultural expectations and patriarchal norms go hand-in -hand in suppressing the array of emotions that women radiate. While some poems speak of the varied scars, some speak frankly of hopes and desires, and a few on contempt and acts of rebellion. Bubna rightly highlights the reality of the state through her courageous poetic rendition on aspects such as sexual violence, domestic abuse, female infanticide, marital rape, child marriage, gay relationships, transwoman experience etc. This paper will take up a few poems (the poems do not have a title) for study considering cultural studies theory proposed by the theorist Gramsci in seeing how culture is most often equated to a system of control and conformity; but that women need to break their silence and be out of the trap to survive and assert themselves.