This seminar invites papers that explore South Asian cinemas to study how gendered beings respond to the machinations of neoliberal states. While the neoliberal state is generally characterized by instabilities and contradictions, such paradoxes are pronounced in South Asia, with its multiplicity of localities, languages, religions, cultures, and identities. With their shared history of colonization and postcolonial nation-state formation, neoliberal powers here, in many ways, seem to replace the imperial agents of oppression. However, it isn’t omnipotent and is repeatedly challenged by disruptors, from people’s movements to cultural productions.

Gender as a social and a political construct has been at the forefront of these enabling and disrupting processes. The phallic anxiety about the loss of control over national borders led to increased social and cultural efforts to police gender. At the same time, neoliberalism complicated the narrative of masculine domination and feminine subordination, with its (largely theoretical) emphasis on autonomy and personal freedom.

Nowhere are the gendered ramifications of neoliberal processes more evident than in post-1990 South Asian cinemas. Films like Joyland (2022) and Funny Boy (2020) critique the dominant patriarchal structure of the family and the state from a queer position. Similarly, in Rehana Maryam Noor (2021) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022), we see a certain “masculinization” of female protagonists to subvert the authoritative power structures, whereas films like Meherjaan (2011) and Bol (2011) overtly challenge the masculinist historiography of the nation-states. Looking at such cinemas as a ground of negotiation between statist forces and mass resistance, this seminar asks what insights they produce about the neoliberal context. While critiquing statist structure as impositions, do they campaign for an autonomy of the individual that will ultimately serve the interest of a neoliberal economy? Or, do they campaign directly against the neoliberal state as a post-colonial threat disrupting social harmony? Or, maybe by being polyvocal, they attempt to meet both ends, i.e., ensuring compliance with the power structure while representing the dissent of the masses.

Alongside representations, we also invite papers on the particular affordances of cinematic forms and practices in South Asia that help mediate the negotiations. The seminar will prioritize works that focus on less-attended cinemas of the subcontinent. Papers may address the following topics although other related areas may be welcome:

1) neoliberal, many feminisms

2) women filmmakers

3) resistant masculinities

4) queer bodies on and off screen

5) trans visibility and beyond

6) alternate sexualities challenging the neoliberal heteronorm

If you have any questions, please email Hena (hsarkar1@binghamton.edu) or Hasan (mrahma75@binghamton.edu). Please follow ACLA guidelines for abstract submission. Deadline: Nov 10.