{"title":"Slender Waists and Severed Breasts: The Construction of Female Bodies and Feminine Subjectivities in Vaiṣṇava Bhakti Poetry","authors":"Anya P. Foxen","doi":"10.1007/s11407-024-09360-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article explores the ways in which the sexed body and its gendered subjectivity are constructed and expressed by Vaiṣṇava devotional poets of both sexes. In short, it is an experiment to see if a reading of <i>bhakti</i> poetry alongside gender theory can allow us to gain a better understanding of both fields. What happens when a <i>bhakti</i> poet chooses to speak as a man speaking as a woman, as opposed to a woman speaking as a woman? In the final analysis, neither the male poetic voice nor the female poetic voice necessarily offers a more direct or essential experience of <i>bhakti</i>, but rather both are expressions of the possible but inevitably contingent modes of experiencing oneself as a devotee. From a gender theory perspective, to choose to speak in a male poetic voice necessitates an imagining of the subjectivity of the Other, whereas the taking on of a female poetic voice forces the paradox of the Other becoming the Self.</p>","PeriodicalId":53989,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Hindu Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-024-09360-x","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article explores the ways in which the sexed body and its gendered subjectivity are constructed and expressed by Vaiṣṇava devotional poets of both sexes. In short, it is an experiment to see if a reading of bhakti poetry alongside gender theory can allow us to gain a better understanding of both fields. What happens when a bhakti poet chooses to speak as a man speaking as a woman, as opposed to a woman speaking as a woman? In the final analysis, neither the male poetic voice nor the female poetic voice necessarily offers a more direct or essential experience of bhakti, but rather both are expressions of the possible but inevitably contingent modes of experiencing oneself as a devotee. From a gender theory perspective, to choose to speak in a male poetic voice necessitates an imagining of the subjectivity of the Other, whereas the taking on of a female poetic voice forces the paradox of the Other becoming the Self.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1997, the International Journal of Hindu Studies is committed to publishing excellent scholarship on well-established topics in Hindu Studies, to fostering new work in neglected areas, and to stimulating alternative perspectives as well as exchange of information on a wide range of issues. The Journal supports critical inquiry, hermeneutical interpretive proposals, and historical investigation into all aspects of Hindu traditions. While committed to publishing articles that will advance scholarship in any discipline relevant to Hindu Studies, the Journal is especially interested in areas of research that have cross-disciplinary relevance or new implications for this emerging field of scholarly interest. Submissions of a comparative or theoretical nature in every discipline in the humanities and social sciences will receive serious and respectful consideration. Each submission to the Journal will receive double-blind review.