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Mr.andMrsIyer.pptxMr. and Mrs. Iyer
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer
2002
Directed by Aparna Sen
Is the director a man or a woman?
2
Represents diversity “on the bus”
What kinds of diversity?
Religious—and religious differences are connected to communal violence
Linguistic—people have to shift languages to find one they all speak; English is often lingua franca, the common language
But what else?
The director, Sen, tries to represent as much diversity as possible:
Age: young, old
Traditional, modern
Educational
Gender
Disability
Religion (religion, not race, source of tensions in film)
And caste..
Caste can be difficult for non-South Asians to understandings, but understandings about caste assumed by South Asians in subtle ways. But caste is also rejected and challenged in everyday life.
What is caste? What is a caste system?
Caste is a system of social differences and hierarchy (the system creates social groups or social categories and ranks them ) based on cultural understand of human differences and on behaviors that put these understandings into practice.
It is necessary to make some distinctions between historical and contemporary attitudes and understandings towards caste: and the film represented some as more “traditional” in terms of caste and some as more “modern” and critical
.Historically and in traditional settings: Caste (often) determines marriage choices; it sometimes (but not always—and less so in the modern era) influences occupational choices. One’s caste could be farmer or priest, metalworker and so on.
Historically, one could—or was supposed to—only marry a member of one’s own caste, and certainly not someone from a lower caste.
Castes often form hierarchies or were thought to do so—some groups were ranked “higher” and some “lower.” People may agree or disagree about the relative ranking of castes, although castes with sacred threads are “higher” than castes with stigmatized occupations (“lower” castes such as traditional leather workers, cleaners).
Myth: “Castes are uniquely Hindu. False.”
In India caste is sometimes followed by members of Christian, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist and Muslim communities. It seems fair to say that these religions also have resources for rejecting caste divisions.
Caste is social, not religious. Religion is sometimes used to justify caste discrimination and preferential treatment; and this is true of Hinduism as the religion of the largest number of people in India; but one can find parallels for the use of religion to justify or legitimate discrimination and preferences in European, North American and colonial forms of Christianity as well.
Myth: People sometimes think “caste has been abolished in India.” False. “India’s constitution declares that [practices of] ‘untouchability’[(the lowest most stigmatized groups were ‘untouchable’] has been abolished and that anyone discriminating against ‘untouchables’ can be prosecuted. However, India’s constitution says nothing about abolishing castes. Similarly, in the United States discrimination on the grounds of race and gender has been declared illegal. However, the United States has no laws abolishing race or gender.” (Source: Everyday Life in South Asia, p. 154)
Men and women are thought of as different “castes” (jat) by some; and today some people say there are only two castes, male and female.
Castes co-exists with economic social differentiations: some one from a “low” caste can be wealthy, although a historical perspective suggests some alignment of caste system and socioeconomic system. But in modern settings caste background does not necessarily predict socioeconomic status or educational level.
A model of caste generates understandings of why caste boundaries have to be defended
Behaviors that implement the model
Coded substance model: mobile or transferable “moral” gene-like particles
Assumes porous boundaries to the person
Behaviors that implement the model
For those following caste, a rule is, Don’t share food water with someone who is not a member of your own caste.
Eat only food cooked by a member of your caste or a higher caste than your own.
