The Tradition of Dowry Through the Lens of Postcolonial Feminism in Brides Are Not for Burning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/h.v15i2.62730Keywords:
contemporary theatre, national theatre, India, feminism, gender-based violenceAbstract
Indian feminist theatre has produced unique dramatic expressions that have transcended the theatrical sphere. The themes addressed by various playwrights have given rise to social activism that fights to defend Indian women from gender-based violence. Dina Mehta’s play Brides Are Not for Burning (1979) deals with an issue that is still relevant today: death by dowry. In this context, it is important to analyze the theatrical text from the theoretical framework of gender studies, particularly postcolonial feminism. On the other hand, the study of the play refers exclusively to the dramatic text, due to the impossibility of staging the play (because Indian plays are not studied or performed in Argentina). For this reason, a hybrid methodology encompassing Western and Indian theorists is used in order to analyze the text in its entirety.
References
Abraham, L. E. (2017). Herramientas de dramatología. El modo dramático de mostrar historias [Ficha de cátedra]. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Ciclo General de Formación Básica en Lenguas, Introducción a la Literatura.
Anand, N. R. (1950). The Indian Theatre. Denis Lobson LTD.
Ananda Kirdat, P. (2016). Patriarchy in Dina Mehta’s Brides Are Not for Burning. Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, VI(III), 139-144.
Aristóteles (2004). Poética. Alianza Editorial. (Original publicado en S. IV a.C).
Awasthi, S. (2009). In Defense of the “Theatre of Roots”. En N. Bhatia (Ed.), Modern Indian Theatre (pp. 295-311). Oxford University Press.
Bessner, D. y Stauch, M. (2010). Karl Heinzen and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Terror. Terrorism and Political Violence, 22(2), 143-176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550903445209
Bidaseca, K. (2011). “Mujeres blancas buscando salvar a mujeres color café”: desigualdad, colonialismo jurídico y feminismo postcolonial. Andamios, 8(17), 61-89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29092/uacm.v8i17.445
Chaudhury, S. (2022, 15 de abril). Dowry and dowry death. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/politiclaw/dowry-and-dowry-death-42574/
Choudoury, K. (2020). Origin of Dowry System and Section 304-B of Indian Penal Code, 1860. International Journal of Legal Science and Innovation, 2(3), 164-178.
Dharwadker, A. B. (2005). Theatres of Independence. Drama, Theory and Urban Performance in India since 1947. University of Iowa Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/book6841
Dharwadker, A. B. (2009). The Critique of Western Modernity in Post-Independence India. En N. Bhatia (Ed.), Modern Indian Theatre (pp. 56-74). Oxford University Press.
Dubatti, J. (2003). El convivio teatral. Teoría y práctica del Teatro Comparado. Atuel.
Ganguly, A. (2014). Subdued Echoes of Violence and Terror in Dina Mehta’s Getting Away with Murder and Brides Are Not for Burning. The Criterion. An International Journal in English, 5(IV), 83-88. https://www.the-criterion.com/V5/n4/Ganguly.pdf
García Barrientos, J. L. (2012). Cómo se comenta una obra de teatro: ensayo de método. Pasodegato.
Gupta, C. B. (1954). The Indian Theatre. University of Delhi.
Javalgekar, A. (2017, 30 de agosto). How Feminist Theatre Emerged in India. Feminism in India. https://feminisminindia.com/2017/08/30/feminist-theatre-india/
Ley 28 de 1961. The Dowry Prohibition. Act. 20 de mayo de 1961.
Ley 45 de 1860. The Indian Penal Code. Act. 6 de octubre de 1860.
Macaulay, T. (1920). Minute on Education. En H. Sharp (Comp.), Selections from Educational Records. Part 1. 1781-1839 (pp. 107-117). Bureau of Education India.
Mehta, D. (1993). Brides Are Not for Burning. Rupa & Co. (Original publicado en 1979).
Mishra, R. K. (2013). Postcolonial feminism: Looking into within-beyond-to difference. International Journal of English and Literature, 4(4), 129-134. https://academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/71109E63948
Mohanty, C. T. (1984). Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses. boundary 2, 12(3), 333-358. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/302821
Mohanty, C. T., Russo, A. y Torres, L. (1991). Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Indiana University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/3150.0
Molina Concha, T. V. (2018). La imagen del subalterno en el teatro postcolonial de India. Estudio de obras de Girish Karnad, Manjula Padmanabhan, Cyrus Mistry y Partap Sharma [Tesis de Maestría no publicada]. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.
Muni, B. (1951). Natia-shastra. Asiatic Society of Bengal. (Original publicado en ca. 400-200 a.C).
Powers, S. (2021). Contextualising the Indian Women’s Movement: Class, Representation and Collaboration. Tate Research Publication. https://www.tate.org.uk/research/in-focus/seven-lives-dream-sheba-chhachhi/contextualising-indian-womens-movement
Rajan, R. S. y Park, Y. (2005). Postcolonial Feminism/Postcolonialism and Feminism. En H. Schwarz y S. Ray (Eds.), A Companion to Postcolonial Studies (pp. 53-71). Blackwell Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470997024.ch3
Ranjan Das, P. (2014). A Theatre of their Own: Indian Women Playwrights and Directors in Perspective. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 19(11), 57-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-191175760
Singh, A. (2009). Aesthetics of Indian Feminist Theatre. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 1(2). http://rupkatha.com/aesthetics-indian-feminist-theatre/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v1n2.05
Singh, A. (2014). Performing Resistance, Re-dressing the Canon: The Emergence of Indian Feminist Theatre. IISUniv.J.A., 3(1), 1-11.
Singh, M. (2023, 12 de junio). How Dowries Are Fuelling a Femicide Epidemic. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/19/how-dowries-are-fuelling-a-femicide-epidemic
Srivastva, A. (2022, 10 de mayo). Feminist theatre in India: How it evolved through the years. Hindustan Times School. https://htschool.hindustantimes.com/editorsdesk/knowledge-vine/feminist-theatre-in-india-how-it-evolved-through-the-years
Varma, B. S. (2013). Questioning the Dowry Deaths in India: Dina Mehta’s Play “Brides are not for Burning”. Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal, II(III), 1-6.
Vyasa. (2012). The Complete Mahabharatha. Rupa. (Original publicado en ca. 1500-1000 a.C).
Walsh, J. E. (2006). A Brief History of India. Facts on File.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Tania Valeria Molina Concha
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
