Karan KumarFSLE2013000755

I n t r o d u c t i o n t o L i t e r a r y & C u l t u r e S t u d i e sP r o f . M a y a D o d d

Reflective Narratives or Assimilative

Image Source: Trivedi, Priyesh. Adarsh Balak. Digital image. Facebook. N.p.,n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <https://www.facebook.com/adarshbalak>.

Karan Kumar – FSLE2013000755

Prof. Maya Dodd

Introduction to Literary & Culture Studies –LE01HCL201

15 April 2015

Reflective Narratives or Assimilative Devices? Understanding &Situating Indian Children’s Literature within the Cultural

Studies Context

From adventures in the jungles to the visits to an aging

Grandparent’s home, children’s literature in India spans a

plethora of themes that lead to the development of a certain

ideological perception among its readers. This perception is

one that is centered around the various contexts of Indian

culture, society, religion, and polity, which vary depending

on the needs of those that create this literature as well as

the perceived needs of the expected readers of the text. Fiona

McCulloch, in her attempt to contextualize children’s

literature, asserted that the idea of studying this kind of

literature is one that stems from two disciplines, one that is

more psychoanalytical in its processes, and another that

focuses more on literary criticism and analysis (2011:140).

However, to study a facet of literature as one that

contributes to development of the individual reader is an

attempt that focuses on integrating the individual as the main

foci of the study, rather than studying the text as a lens to

understand the impact it makes across the spectrum of culture.

This paper aims to explore Indian children’s literature as a

facet of culture studies, one that represents the subtle

‘unconscious’ needs of the society within which its readers

are situated, while attempting to parallel childhood

experiences to the experiences that children’s literature

provides to the child, thereby allowing the situation of this

literary category into physical experiences which may, or may

not be representative of the experience the literature

provides.

AbdelRahim, claims that her own childhood experiences

contribute to “uncovering her epistemology”, however, these

experiences, along with her literary encounters with

children’s literature are what developed her mental self

(2014:34). Though this claim is one that leans towards a more

psychoanalytic approach, AbdelRahim also states that the

literature she encountered as a child, might have aided in her

development, yet, upon revisiting these works and the spaces

that the works were based in, her conceptions of cultural

dimensions such as religion, societal divisions, morality and

identity seemed to stem from the convergence of both imagined

and real experiences (Ibid:44).

The study of children’s literature for the purpose of this

essay however, is to situate the text within the field of

culture studies, which may only take place when the

reductionist approach that AbdelRahim employs is used as a

measure to analyze the actual content of the text, which

serves as the subtle communicator of what any of the

aforementioned cultural dimensions must be tailored to within

specific settings.

Children’s literature as a faction of culture studies is one

that must take into consideration various factors; these rest

on, first the categorization of children’s literature. The

contention of categorizing this kind of literature rests on

the basis of categorization and the reason for this

segregation. If the literature is categorized by ‘author’,

then the question of the adult’s perception of the literature

comes into the picture, however, if it is categorized

thematically, the question of the rationale behind the

insertion of the theme integrates itself into the study

(McCulloch 2011:141). Thematic interpretations of children’s

literature suggest that the literature of India, draws heavily

from spaces akin to the wilderness, or a rural setting,

wherein, the downtrodden are empowered, and the ‘worthy’

contender is the most benefitted out of whatever the goings-on

are.

The lack of a repertoire of knowledge within the field of

analyzing children’s literature from India, lends itself to

the fact that, to understand this literature as a means to

study culture, comparisons must be made with literature of the

globe. In attempting to understand the development and the

developmental effects of children’s literature, through social

and political context, David Rudd’s essay, highlights the

necessity in understanding the needs and current status of the

spaces that the literature emerges out of (2010).

Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, as Rudd points out, was

the first text of literature for children, that allowed for

liberality in the way children thought, it served as the pivot

to swing from a mere instructional thematic sense, to a more

interpretational one (Ibid:10). The idea of being able to

communicate to children the necessities of a community through

literature is one that manifests across many different texts

of the world. Today however, the number of authentically

Indian books (in terms of origin, author, and theme) is very

few. Children’s literature might be representative of a

cultural identity or an attempt to form one, albeit, if there

is no reception for this representation, the arrow itself

misses the bull’s-eye. Children in India, conveys the Nielson

Bookscan Data, tend to pick up more literature from authors

that do no represent the Indian self, they read more

literature by ‘foreign’ authors, whose works lean towards

forming a cultural identity based on moral righteousness and

criminal investigation and punishment (Viswanath 2014). Indian

children’s literature, like the panchatantra, and oral

traditions alike that are rather didactic in form, and are

rooted in creating an ‘intelligent’ and ‘morally sound’

individual. With India’s rich and vast story-telling

traditions, one would only hope that there is a large

reservoir of stories, novels, short-stories, and other tales

for children to read. One reason that could be attributed to

the didactic form of children’s literature in India, could be

that since society itself is heavily soaked with religious

notions, it is only natural to represent the expected ideals

of society through mythic tales which embed concepts of

discipline, love, respect, etc. into the minds of the naïve

readers.

In attempting to situate children’s literature within the

culture studies canon, one cannot isolate the text from its

illustrative aspects. Radhika Menon, aptly states that the

illustrations within children’s literature, while serving as a

visual medium and providing a visual encounter, do not provide

a ‘new’ experience. The illustrative phenomenon is one that

can even be seen in the rock-cut caves and panels of historic

times, sitting these panels and cave drawings alongside the

illustrations in texts like the panchatantra, only

‘illustrates’, that even modern illustrations are just

renditions and interpretations of the previous ones (2000).

Therefore, in the study of the text as a representative of

culture, it can be said that the illustrative aspect needs to

be developed further, however, the inability to detach from

the original styles of illustration further assert that the

author, as well as the illustrator, are attempting to

modernize existing literature, rather than create new canons

that might be representative of a more ‘current’ outlook.

This inability, as discussed earlier on, might seem to be the

norm within Indian Children’s Literature, as it propagates a

uniform, eternal set of morals, values, and cultural messages

to the readers; however, in trying to situate children’s

literature within the cultural studies narrative, it seems

impossible to consider a normative path to understanding the

cultural essence of children’s literature. To contextualize

this literature, it is imperative to recognize, that there is

no essential norm, rather, the text itself is a dynamic form

that evolves as it represents various facets of our society.

Literature for children from the medieval to the modern times

has always focused thematically on some form of subsistence,

or religious sentiment – this has stagnated the kind of

representations within children’s literature in India, and

disallowed the ‘child’ to be represented (Singh). Though this

representation serves well for the culture studies theorist,

as it possesses a collectivist ideology it does not permit the

complete development of the cultural identity of the child, as

they are fed ideas of indigence and deplorable states of

being; which need to be altered by means of creating an

identity within them that empowers them, rather than creating

a doxa that does not provide room for interpretation and

development of the individual self. The efforts in creating

representations of those that do not ordinarily get

represented within various facets of the arts and literature

is a commendable one. However, if children’s literature, as a

whole, and contextualized to India, contains some semblance of

an unconscious within it, it seems farfetched if the only

representations are those of a mode of subsistence and some

sort of dogmatic moral and value based ideology.

Dipesh Chakrabarty, Homi Bhabha, and Ranajit Guha, have, in

their endeavours to alter the perceptions of the imperialists,

created a new line of thought in regards to children’s

literature also. Chakrabarty especially, while portraying the

susceptibility of the empire to Indian rebellion, also in some

sense embodies the philosophy of this rebellion (Goswami

2012:12). If one were to analyse the Bengali canon of

children’s literature, the anti-colonial sentiments within

them, seem to manifest in the readers, and this further

supports the notion that the Indian unconscious, which is an

ever altering one, as represented in Indian children’s

literature is one that seeks to imbibe nationalist sentiments

within the children, possibly due to the loss of identity

during the colonial era. Take for example, Sukumar Ray’s ‘Abol

Tabol’, in which the idea of children ‘devouring’ the British

rule is rampant (2004). The anti-colonial sentiment is strong,

however, the text itself is an outright manifestation of the

Indian sentiment, and not the unconscious. At the same time

however, it is an attempt at creating an unconscious stream of

thought that does empower the children that read the text and

contextualize it. Hunt too, expresses an opinion that draws

from the ideas of an unconscious as proposed by Jung, wherein,

he states, that there is an individual, personal unconscious

that manifests, but the text itself is not an end, but a means

to this unconscious (2005:106). He also states that children’s

literature itself, is one that does not conform very well to

the patriarchal idea, as an association with children is often

made by women, and hence, most children’s literature,

including that of India, is produced by women (though this

does not make writing children’s literature a sexist

profession, it merely states, that the cultural

representations within children’s literature are usually more

oriented towards the female psyche rather than the male’s

(McCulloch 2011:147). In his book, titled “Understanding

Children’s Literature”, Peter Hunt asserts that the process of

growth is one that is never-ending, albeit, this process is

accompanied by symbols and various Jungian archetypes that are

created by the interpretations of literature for children, by

children as they read (2005:106). This process of growth also

assists in reiterating, that the unconscious may not exist

within the literature explicitly, but through physical and

mental experience, the literature serves as a propagator of

that particular warranted unconscious.

Sudha Murthy’s collection of short stories for children titled

“How I Taught My Grandmother To Read, and Other Stories”, has

been an inspirational book to many young folk that have

encountered it. Personally, this book has been a delightful

experience, and to this day, acts as a reminder of various

things that embody social and cultural change that was

necessary at the time of its publication. As a cultural

reflection of India, this text assumes the position of the

‘voice of change’, it is the Alice of India, through personal

and identifiable narratives, Murthy tackles issues like gender

representation, the importance of education and literacy, and

even the issue of rural empowerment through education,

especially for women (2004). This book, as the beacon of

liberality, it is one that does represent a contextualisable

culture, and a change that is necessary in a culture that

isn’t.

“… But what the world does not know is that today’s important little circle of

‘nothing’, quite certainly, came from India.” (Sabnani & Nayar 2000)

Indian children’s literature is, and will remain a vast

category, its segregation is the only way in which one may

facilitate a proper analysis of its content, to identify its

value as a cultural text. However, the content analysis of

certain texts, as well as their components, is what may lead

to a holistic understanding of the cultural sense of the

author, the space the author inhabits, and the audience the

text is meant for. In conclusion, one can say, that the genre

of children’s literature in India requires more recognition,

without which, its value as a text of culture studies will

soon be lost. The canon might never be destroyed, but in an

attempt to situate the soon-to-be citizen of a country within

its current framework, more can be added to firstly ensure the

dispelling of the imagined norm, and then to mirror, and not

replicate, a cultural ideology among children that is

individualistic, interpretative, and dynamic enough to sustain

the rapid changes one encounters in a diverse, and ‘plural’

land like India.

Bibliography

Print Sources

1. Murthy, Sudha. How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories. New Delhi: Puffin, 2004. Print.

Web Sources

1. Hunt, Peter. "Reading The Unconscious: Psychoanalytical Criticism." Understanding Children's Literature: Key Essays from the Second Edition of The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. London: Routledge, 2005. 103-14. Google Books. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.<https://books.google.co.in/books?id=4ikEPN7LKzsC&dq=an+unconscious+in+children%27s+literature&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

2. McCulloch, Fiona. "Critical Contexts." Children's Literature in Context. London: Continuum, 2011. 140-56. Google Books. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=lR5HAQAAQBAJ&dq=an+unconscious+in+children%27s+literature&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

3. Rudd, David. The Routledge Companion to Children's Literature. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, 2010. Google Books. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KcgWV8Q8wE4C&dq=an+unconscious+in+children%27s+literature&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

4. Goswami, Supriya. Colonial India in Children's Literature. New York: Routledge, 2012. Google Books. Web.11 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=G9ZykizVwc8C&dq=indian+childrens+literature+analysis&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

5. Botelho, Maria Jose, and Masha Kabakow. Rudman. Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children's Literature: Mirrors,Windows, and Doors. New York: Routledge, 2009. Google Books. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=5cKQAgAAQBAJ&dq=indian+childrens+literature+analysis&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

6. AbdelRahim, Layla. "Epistemologies of Chaos and the Orderly Unknowledge of Literacy." Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness. N.p.: Routledge, 2014. 28-109.Google Books. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.co.in/books?id=-kK2BQAAQBAJ&dq=Children%27s+Literature,+Domestication,+and+Social+Foundation&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

7. Agarwal, Deepa. "Children's Literature in India." MUSE India. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2007&issid=13&id=680>.

8. Sheoran, Kamal. "Contemporary Children's Literature in India." Project MUSE. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/childrens_literature/v004/4.sheoran.pdf>.

9. Viswanath, Shobha. "Children’s Literature in India: A Fairy-Tale?" The Hindu. N.p., 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/childrens-literature-in-india-a-fairytale/article6594822.ece>.

10. Menon, Radhika. "An Overview of Indian Childrens Literature in English." An Overview of Indian Childrens Literature in English. Tulika Publishers, 2000. Web. 14

Apr. 2015. <http://tulikabooks.com/editors/an-overview-of-indian-childrens-literature-in-english>.

11. Singh, Varsha. "Nation, Identity and Children’s Literature in India." Isahitya. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://isahitya.com/index.php/77-special-articles/269>.

12. Sinha, Nilima. "Contemporary Children's Literature In India." GoodBooks. N.p., Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.<http://goodbooks.in/node/3792#.VSoKlhOUeiY>.

Other Sources

1. Bekkedal, Tekla K. "Content Analysis in Children's Books." Library Trends22.2 (1973): 109-26. IDEALS Illinois. Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. PDF.11 Apr. 2015. <http://hdl.handle.net/2142/6726>.

2. Class Notes. Dodd, Maya. “Introduction to Literary & Culture Studies.” Trimester-3/6. 2015.

3. Ray, Sukumar. Abol Tabol: The Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray. New Delhi: Puffin, 2004. PDF.

4. Sabnani, Nina, and Deeya Nayar. All About Nothing. N.p.: Tulika, 2000. PDF.