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Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa

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Summary:This paper analyzes the construction of Indian society in retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa published in India between 2010 and 2020. I focus on the concepts of caste, class, and mythological species. Through discourse analysis of a corpus of retellings, nonfiction works by the same authors, and comparisons with secondary literature, I show how specific castes, classes, and species are assimilated to one another and contrasted with competing identities. I also show how such representations define positive traits of Indianness and contrast them with the opposite negative traits of Otherness. I conclude that, despite differences in style, the retellers imagine an ancient pre-colonial India imbued with the modern neoliberal values of freedom of choice and social mobility.
Main Authors:Oliveira, João Pedro
Subject:Caste Class Deva Rākṣasa Rāmāyaṇa
Year:2024
Country:Portugal
Document type:article
Access type:open access
Associated institution:Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Language:English
Origin:Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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author Oliveira, João Pedro
author_facet Oliveira, João Pedro
author_role author
contributor_name_str_mv Veritati
country_str PT
creators_json_txt [{\"Person.name\":\"Oliveira, João Pedro\"}]
datacite.contributors.contributor.contributorName.fl_str_mv Veritati
datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv Oliveira, João Pedro
datacite.date.Accepted.fl_str_mv 2024-12-01T00:00:00Z
datacite.date.available.fl_str_mv 2024-04-09T08:52:08Z
datacite.date.embargoed.fl_str_mv 2024-04-09T08:52:08Z
datacite.rights.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Veritati
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Oliveira, João Pedro
dc.date.Accepted.fl_str_mv 2024-12-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.available.fl_str_mv 2024-04-09T08:52:08Z
dc.date.embargoed.fl_str_mv 2024-04-09T08:52:08Z
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/44477
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
dc.rights.cclincense.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
dc.title.fl_str_mv Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
description This paper analyzes the construction of Indian society in retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa published in India between 2010 and 2020. I focus on the concepts of caste, class, and mythological species. Through discourse analysis of a corpus of retellings, nonfiction works by the same authors, and comparisons with secondary literature, I show how specific castes, classes, and species are assimilated to one another and contrasted with competing identities. I also show how such representations define positive traits of Indianness and contrast them with the opposite negative traits of Otherness. I conclude that, despite differences in style, the retellers imagine an ancient pre-colonial India imbued with the modern neoliberal values of freedom of choice and social mobility.
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person_str_mv Oliveira, João Pedro
publishDate 2024
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spelling engpt_PTThis paper analyzes the construction of Indian society in retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa published in India between 2010 and 2020. I focus on the concepts of caste, class, and mythological species. Through discourse analysis of a corpus of retellings, nonfiction works by the same authors, and comparisons with secondary literature, I show how specific castes, classes, and species are assimilated to one another and contrasted with competing identities. I also show how such representations define positive traits of Indianness and contrast them with the opposite negative traits of Otherness. I conclude that, despite differences in style, the retellers imagine an ancient pre-colonial India imbued with the modern neoliberal values of freedom of choice and social mobility.application/pdfpt_PTSociety with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the RāmāyaṇaOliveira, João PedroHostingInstitutionOrganizationalVeritatie-mailmailto:repositorio@ucp.ptrepositorio@ucp.ptISSNIsPartOf2522-0926DOIIsPartOf10.1007/s42240-024-00167-y2024-04-09T08:52:08Z2024-12-012024-12-01T00:00:00ZHandlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/44477http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2open accessCasteClassDevaRākṣasaRāmāyaṇa768132 bytesliteraturehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501journal article2024-12-01http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2application/pdffulltexthttps://repositorio.ucp.pt/bitstreams/d7d97d9f-b954-4834-8a85-f6ecb31f5525/downloadJournal of Dharma Studies73279297
spellingShingle Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
Oliveira, João Pedro
Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
status SINGLETON
subject.fl_str_mv Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
title Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
title_full Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
title_fullStr Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
title_full_unstemmed Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
title_short Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
title_sort Society with Indian characteristics: caste, class, and species in contemporary retellings of the Rāmāyaṇa
topic Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
topic_facet Caste
Class
Deva
Rākṣasa
Rāmāyaṇa
url http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/44477
visible 1