My plan for my research paper is to take a close look at the Indian culture and the Hindu religion and look at how it affects the women in the culture, specifically looking at Jasmine and how she changes what she feels and believes after she was taken out of her culture. The primary text I will consult with be Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee. The main questions that are guiding my research are “How does a woman’s culture affect her? Her life? Her ideas of family, social life, work?” and also, “How do these cultural expectations depict the way she thinks and handles herself? And if she were to leave her cultural society, would that identity change? Why or why not?” While these are a lot of questions I believe that as I do more research my topic will narrow significantly. In order to answer these questions I will need to research the Hindu culture/religion and be able to knowledgably discuss the Hindu culture in my paper. I also want to be able to define terms that are necessary to understand the angle from which women see, observe, and life their life. I will also be looking for articles that discuss these topics about women’s cultural identities and become more aware with what arguments are being made about this topic.
Some secondary sources I plan to work with are patheos.com, which has an article entitled “Hinduism Gender and Sexuality” and explains the woman’s role in the Hindu community. It also explains certain terms such as “dharma” which is a belief that some outside force controls actions and destinies and takes a look at the role that goddesses play in the Hindu culture. I also want to look at the article that Ashford presented in class in order to look at ways that women adapt or react to situations they are not familiar with, such as violence to themselves and others.
Some secondary sources I plan to work with are patheos.com, which has an article entitled “Hinduism Gender and Sexuality” and explains the woman’s role in the Hindu community. It also explains certain terms such as “dharma” which is a belief that some outside force controls actions and destinies and takes a look at the role that goddesses play in the Hindu culture. I also want to look at the article that Ashford presented in class in order to look at ways that women adapt or react to situations they are not familiar with, such as violence to themselves and others.
The layout of my argument will be most likely to look at specific Hindu beliefs/practices that Hinduism teaches and then apply these ideas to the novel, Jasmine, and then look specifically at how she changes or adapts to the differences between her culture and American culture. There is still a lot of work and reseach that needs to be done.
Carter-Sanborn, Kristin. “We Murder Who We Were: Jasmine and the Violence of Identity.” American Literature, Vol. 66. Num. 3. Sept. 1994. Duke University Press. 573-592. Print.
"Dharma." The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Web. 27 Mar. 2012
"Hinduism Gender and Sexuality." Balanced Views of Religion and Spirituality with Faith. Web. 27 Mar. 2012
Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine. New York: Grove, 1989. Print.
Carter-Sanborn, Kristin. “We Murder Who We Were: Jasmine and the Violence of Identity.” American Literature, Vol. 66. Num. 3. Sept. 1994. Duke University Press. 573-592. Print.
"Dharma." The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Web. 27 Mar. 2012
"Hinduism Gender and Sexuality." Balanced Views of Religion and Spirituality with Faith. Web. 27 Mar. 2012
Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine. New York: Grove, 1989. Print.
You're asking some good questions in this proposal, Becca, and you're right that you'll likely narrow as you reread the text. The question that I find most provocative at this point has to do with how someone's cultural identity shifts yet remains the same after a departure from her home culture.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a good idea in mind about what what kind of background reading you're going to need to do. Do make sure that as you're doing background reading on gender and Hindu faith that you move to scholarly materials (not just web materials). Great to hear that you're thinking about the article Ashford looked into. Rachael is also writing about Jasmine. What other critical materials have you been able to find thus far?
Let me know what assistance I can provide as you move forward with this topic.