Archives

How far could Sita lift the bow?

"Building Women's Capacities" Interventions in Gender TransformationEdited by Ranjani K. Murthy Sage Publications India (Pvt) Ltd.

reviewed by Aditha Dissanayake

"Building Women's Capacities" is a book that deals with the empowerment of the marginalised;i.e., women. Though it focuses on women in India, many of the ideas given can be used as a source of inspiration by donor agencies and NGOs, and students in the field of gender studies, no matter where in the world they be.

"Why Capacity Building of Women"? Asks Ranjani K. Murthy in the Introduction.

The answer, in simple terms - because women "continue to occupy a subordinate position in all spheres of life - economic, social and political.

Why they are subordinated is visible in the response shown by ten men who were asked to choose from three underlying reasons for women's marginalized status in today's society.

(i) Women's oppression is God-ordained (ii) Women's oppression is due to biological factors (iii) Women's oppression is due to social structures. Of the ten men present six had perceived that gender differences were God-ordained. They had used the following arguments to support their choice (i) God has created this society. If women occupy a subordinate position in society, it is His creation (ii) In Ramayana, Rama alone (not Sita) could lift the bow and break it during the swayamvara. Therefore, God has made men superior to women.

The book attempts to dispel such myths, to make men sensitive to gender issues and to strengthen the capacities of women. The first part, therefore, presents six case studies focusing on specific issues confronted by women in present day India i.e., how self help methods could be used by women to gain control over their bodies, fertility, sexuality and their identities.

The next three chapters highlight experiences in strengthening the capacities of women to earn a livelihood for themselves and to keep control of what they had earned.

The second part focuses on training women to negotiate with the outside world. The third deals with strategies, other than training, that could be used to help women expand their capabilities. The concluding essay which forms the fourth part brings together the lessons learnt from the other three and provides insights into helping women overcome subordination in a "patrilocal system of residence".

Men, doubtless have "male-specific advantages such as freedom of mobility, speech and interaction, easier access to leadership positions as opposed to "female specific disadvantages - unequal access to education, double burden of work, male violence within the family, oppression by in-laws after marriage and the over all low status accorded to women by the society." But, if donor agencies, NGOs and governments are to heed the ideas given in this volume, the day would not be far when women would be equal with men, when their arguments about the subordination of women would be opposed with the following counter arguments.

(i) There are goddesses as well. (ii) This is just one version of Ramayana. Sita could lift the bow as well (according to another version).

But that day may be far to come for the men would surely argue back "Sita may have lifted the bow, but only a little bit above the ground level, while Rama could lift it to above his shoulder and break it."

Literary surveys on post colonial literature

A periodical assessment of a harvest Post colonial literaturePerspectives on post-colonial literatureEdited by D. C. R. A. GoonetillekeProfessor of English, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.Publishers: Skoob Books Ltd., London.Price: UK: Sterling Pounds 12.99. USA: $ 14.95

reviewed by Malini Govinnage

Post colonial literature - obviously English - creative works of those who have mastered the language of their colonial masters.

The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) is a body of academics and writers that periodically meet and assess the 'harvest' of post-colonial literature. This book is a compendium of seventeen papers presented at the tenth Triennial Conference of ACLALS held in 1995, Colombo.

On the whole, these scholarly essays are critiques not only of the literature that is post-colonial, but also of the socio-political, and gender relations in the regions under discussion.

Writers are either academics mainly in English language/literature departments of Universities of the Commonwealth, and in Europe and America or distinguished writers in the Commonwealth.

They are the descendants of those who were privileged to master the language of their colonial masters while being either in their own countries or in their master's country - that is England.

This generation hardly opted to live in their own land. And, many of them have been quite comfortable being away from their native land - at least for some period of their lives. By the mid 20th century there was a diaspora of these self-exiled intellectuals, academics and writers.

Most of the works of post-colonial have been written by them. These seventeen papers discuss the Commonwealth literature in general and related topics. But, one feels that there is something conspicuously lacking. No single writer has touched on the subject of contemporary Commonwealth literature like a literary critic. This lacunae is to a little extent filled by Nayanthara Sahgal's essay. Hers is a holistic perspective of the whole issue of post colonial literature. Nayanthara Sahgal is a novelist and a political writer from India who has won several international awards for literature.

She unhesitantly points out what the need of the Commonwealth literature at the time should be. While recording the transition from colonialism to post-colonialism she defines globalisation as the latest form of colonialism and goes further to name it as market terrorism. For her, the concept of national identity is not something outdated as many post colonial academics and writers in self-exile - very often they are in exile in their own lands - see it.

'National identity is a source of self-hood' she says. And, she emphasizes the need of post colonial academics and writers to harmonise their ways of living and thinking. It is the way to bring forth a 'truly cosmopolitan world and a genuinely universal literature,' she says.

For Ken Goodwin, professor of English from Australia, post-colonial writings are a reflection of reactions to the colonial encounter from its beginning to the current situation.

Yasmine Gooneratne, a Sri Lankan writer and a professor of English living in Australia raises the issue of gender. She discusses the challenges of Asian women as writers.

Bernth Lindfors, an authority on African literatures and also a professor of English, discusses the English literature teachings in South African university departments. He conclude that what should be taught in universities is a generous mixing of different racial, social temporal and national backgrounds that is representative of the best from both the past and the present. And, he emphasises that literature teaching should be a profoundly multicultural enterprise.

Satendra Nandan, the current international chairperson of ACLALS discusses the phenomenon of Indian exiles - Indian indentured labourers in Fiji - who were battered both by colonialism and caste system which they could not leave behind. He cites V. S. Naipul - the grandson of such an indentured labourer, as the best person who understood this phenomenon.

Gerhard Stilz's is a long essay on the changed landscapes and nature in colonial and post colonial writing.

Dan Jakobson views imperialism as the major force which underlies the contemporary world literature. According to him, imperialism has divided the world into 'capitals' and 'provinces'. He sees these two phenomenons continually changing places and provinces coming out better.

There are also essays on outstanding writers and their specific novels. James Harrison, a professor of English, poet and a literary critic writes on Salman Rushdie, one of the most controversial writers of the East. S. S. Manzooral Islam discusses the works of J. M. Coetze, the South African writer. There are two essays on V. S. Naipaul - this year's winner of Nobel prize for literature - by Frank Schulz Engher and Victor J. Ramraj, both academics of English literature.

Periodical assessment these international academics and writers have offered on post-colonial literature is a fulfilment of periodical need for the growth and recognition of literature that is post-colonial. A valuable piece of work for the use of university students of contemporary literature, a considerable slice of which is representative of post-colonial writers. This is also an interesting scholarly work for any person who has a specific interest in post-colonial writings.

Detailed analysis of development issues

'When Persuasions Fail and cassandras reign'

By C. Suriyakumaran - A Konark

published by Millennium Series Publication, Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Delhi

Review by Prof. Ashley LS Perera

I have read with great interest the recent publication titled 'When Persuasions Fail and Cassandras Reign' which is the latest book by C. Suriyakumaran, formerly Deputy Secretary of the Economic Commission for Asia; Director, Education Training and Technical Assistance, UNEP; Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific and Visiting Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science.

The long title of the book viz. 'Policies that Should Have Been Adopted by Developing Countries... But Perhaps Never Will' which is an extension to the short title further focuses on his concerns.

The book elaborately deals with policies he believes that should have been adopted by developing countries which in the experience of the author, perhaps will never be adopted given national perceptions on 'needs' and international influences constantly brought to bear upon these countries.

Ten areas of concern to countries have been identified and the author deals with these concerns authoritatively and with remarkable lucidity emphasising their startling consequences to the future. These areas of concern comprise the subject matter of the ten chapters of the book viz.

The Policies for Growth of Developing Countries, Theories of Trade Co-operation, The Payments System for International Trade, The 'Track Marks' of South Asian Regional Co-operation, Environment and Development, The Agendas and Beneficiaries of Global Environment Compacts. The Impending Traffic Standstills of Future Megalopolis, The Confusions on Social Development, Employment Development and Development, The Borrowed Political Frameworks of Governance, and Development and The United Nations in the Next Millennium.

Both for convenience, and as an aid for better understanding the author has incorporated a special summary under each chapter emphasising inter-alia the 'forgotten frontiers' of each of the subject areas, their central issues, the wrong turning points taken, the missing elements in them, and the gist of what they should have been doing.

On development proper, he observes that it is "indeed noteworthy that some developing countries have developed without wholesale copy book prescriptions from their mentors!" He further asserts that "Cassandras notwithstanding these are all targeted for serious thought certainly among developing countries but as much by developed countries."

The author asserts gravely that 'failure on the part of both developing and developed countries to give serious thought to the issues raised may mean that both shall surely miss out on their own destinies when the turning points of their histories are recorded.'

As fittingly observed by former Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs and Head of the United Nations Development System, Philippe De Seynes, "... This book is derived from an individuals intellectual and practical experience as a civil servant in the early years of independence of an Asian country, and his experience as an international official in some of the most vital and innovative outposts of the United Nations, watching at close hand both the changing problematique of development and the emerging problematique environment."

These credentials aptly describes the author's suitability to address issues concerning the conceptual framework within which national policies of development and international schemes of co-operation have evolved during the last five decades.

Professor Jan Timbergen, the distinguished economist from the Netherlands has been particularly pleased in the ideas expressed by the author...on development, the quantitative aspects of environment, environment as a dimension, multiple equilibria and sustainable development, resources as a 'basket' in decision making, and population as a function of resources consumed and waste created.

Thoughts of a poet

Moments of Reflection By Mahesha Weeraratne

Anthologies of poems like "Moments of Reflection" by young poetess Mahesha Weeraratne, leads one to almost presumptuously conclude that English has taken its deep roots in Sri Lanka despite its relegation to the backgrund due to the post-independence language policy.

Her poetic style is obviously churned out in her own mental factory, just like her ideas and thought processes. Very short lines that convey cryptic messages on a vast multitude of theme ranging from exams, youthful aspirations via love and marriage to lofty and broad fields as justice and politics.

Here is apparently a young woman with a promising world before her in English writing - prose and verse - since she is well equipped with almost all the basic ingredients that go to make up a good creative writer - in English. To name a few, the ability to look beyond the immediate horizons of the subject matter, to perceive powerful messages, interest in and compassionate love for all living beings and of course to be able to utilise a generously acquired vocabulary to convey ideas and thought streams.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager