Gender And Its Representation In Literature And Popular Culture
Gender has been an issue, inextricably related in various forms to literature and popular culture. Gender as a cultural concept cuts across the traditional notion of a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’. It has rather encompassed all kinds of human existence. In the post modern era, gender is looked as a performance. Judith Butler opines that the subject is a product of discourse and a performative construct. Following the Derridian notion of deference, Butler postulates that the subject never achieves its completion. It is caught up in the process of constant deferral and differentiation. If the subject never achieves its completion, gender can only be an effect of discourse and not the cause of discourse. Thus gender is a crucial determinant in the production, circulation and consumption of literary and cultural discourses.
Popular culture is a contested site. On the one hand, it refers to the cultural practices of lived culture that people engage in. On the other hand, popular culture also refers to the cultural texts which are symbolic and whose function is the production of meaning through words, images or practices. Popular culture, as a fluid concept, encompasses a large number of cultural texts and practices ranging from films to newspaper articles, computer games to music, mass media like Television, Radio, the Press and the emerging social media et al.
Representation is a process of communication that depicts or describes something or someone. In the literary as well as cultural arena, language and images are the key symbolic systems through which representations are made. Representation is crucial in the creation of meanings. Thus, representations are constructed through language, images and socio-cultural practices, and possess a material as well as symbolic dimension. (Milestone & Meyer, 2012:8)
Incorporating these concepts and their diverse dimensions and notions of gender and representation in literature and popular culture, Drishti: the Sight intends to reflect upon the theme from multidimensional perspectives and newer theoretical paradigms. Scholars are invited to contribute their original scholarly research papers on any possible topic within the focus area for the next issue of the Journal to be published in November, 2021.
Scholars are requested to submit their papers by following the norms (please read the ‘Mode of Submission’ portion in the Call for Papers on this website). FOR PAPER SUBMISSION, THE WINDOW WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR THE PERIOD BETWEEN JUNE, 15 AND JULY,05, 2021 ON THIS WEBSITE.
(Contributors may also submit papers on subjects other than this focus area for the forthcoming November issue. Regarding the modalities to be followed for submission, they are requested to go through the CFP published on this website).