Feminist Theory and the Aesthetics Within

This book re-examines feminist theory through the lens of South Asian aesthetic conventions drawn from iconography, philosophy, Indo-Islamic mystic folk traditions and poetics. It discusses alternate fluid representations of gender and intersectional identities and interrelationships in some dominant as well as non-elite Indic aesthetic traditions. The book explores pre-Vedic sculptural and Indus terracotta iconographies, the classical aesthetic philosophy of rasa, mystic folk poetry of Bhakti and Sufi movements, and ghazal and Urdu poetics to understand the political dimension of feminist theory in India as well as its implications for trans-continental feminist aesthetics across South Asia and the West. By interlinking prehistoric, classical, medieval, premodern and contemporary aesthetic and literary traditions of South Asia through a gendered perspective, the book bridges a major gap in feminist theory. An interdisciplinary work, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of feminist theory, women's studies, gender studies, art and aesthetics, philosophy, literature, cultural studies, queer studies, sexuality studies, political studies, sociology and South Asian studies.

Anu Aneja is currently Director of the Women and Gender Studies program at George Mason University, USA. She has research interests in the areas of transnational feminist theory and aesthetics, particularly their inventive crossings across South Asia and the West. Other areas of interest include contemporary French, francophone and Indian literatures, feminist perspectives on mothering, and feminist pedagogy. She is the co-author (with Shubhangi Vaidya) of Embodying Motherhood: Perspectives from Contemporary India (2016). Her edited collections include a comprehensive anthology, Women's and Gender Studies in India: Crossings (2019), which maps the contemporary contours of the field, and an edited volume on Gender & Distance Education: Indian and International Contexts (2019). She has also published a Hindustani translation of Hélène Cixous's French play L'Indiade our l'Inde de leurs rêves. Her research articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited anthologies. Aneja currently serves as Area Advisor of 'Gender and Education' for the digital edition of Oxford Bibliographies and on the Editorial Board of the Gender and Education journal. She has previously taught in the School of Gender and Development Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, and at the Ohio Wesleyan University, where she was the recipient of the Rebecca Brown Professor of Literature award. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Penn State University and a Bachelor's in French from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Introduction 1. Feminist Theory and the Aesthetic Re-Turn 2. Sculpting Gender and Sexuality by the Indus 3. Rasa: In Dialogue with Feminist Aesthetics 4. The Errant Feminine of Bhakti and Sufi Aesthetics 5. "Speaking with Women": The Promise of the Pre-Modern Urdu Ghazal 6. Traveling with the Ghazal: A Transnational Feminist Aesthetic 7. Turning Back Towards the Future: Feminist Conversations with South Asian Art