Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2022

Date of Submission

2022-06-04

Advisor

Nudrat Kamal, Lecturer, Department ofSocial Sciences

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

The archetypal Majnun figure finds its essence in the journey of the ‘Self’ to unite with the ‘Other’. When manifested through the intersection of contexts of the (post)colonial South Asian woman, this journey occurs within the vessel of the Majnun’s body and home. This research conducts an archetypal literary-visual analysis of two Pakistani Urdu television dramas, Shehr-e-Zaat (2012) and Dastaan (2010) to show the intricate connection between the (post)colonial South Asian woman’s ‘Self’ and concepts of body and home, which themselves are colored by the socio-cultural and political norms of this specific intersection of contexts. While Falak’s (Shehr-e-Zaat's protagonist) journey in attaining ideal love ends up with the prerequisite of transcending love of material beauty and undertaking the path of the religious housewife, Bano’s (Dastaan's protagonist) dream to unite with her ideal homeland in 20th century colonial Ludhiana pushes her to realize that her own identity (and body) is as contested as the lands of the new India and Pakistan. Building on the South Asian concept of the ‘woman who longs’ (the virahini), this research also complicates the ideas of madness and love—essential to Majnun’s manifestation as an archetype—in light of the gendered experiences of Falak and Bano as (post)colonial South Asian women.

Pages

67

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