Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Masculinities in a Global Era pp 119–135Cite as

Making the Global Bhadralok: Bengali Men and the Transnational Middle Class in India

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP,volume 4))

Abstract

The anxiety regarding Bengali masculinity is a longstanding concern that engaged thinkers, literati, and commentators since the colonial period. An exceptional number of writings have addressed the issue at length, not to mention the continuing scholarly pursue relating to the colonial middle-class male in Bengal. However, there are hardly any studies on the altering notions of Bengali masculinity amidst the changes ushered in the post-liberalization period and in the wake of globalization. Interestingly, the public discourse regarding Bengali male seems to be preoccupied with a comparative assessment between the past and the present state of Bengali cultural identity and an attempt to constitute a “global” Bengali cultural identity as hegemonic. In this chapter, I attempt to discuss the discursive construction of this “global” Bengali masculinity in the popular culture. I argue whether the “global-bhadralok” (global-gentlefolk) identity can be understood as a crossover mode, which stands in opposition with the usual notion of hybridity as well as a specific, fixed category of identity. I seek to explore in what way modernity and neoliberal values parallel to an overwhelming cultural specificity constitute Bengali masculinity in contemporary Bengal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • ABP. (2009a, February 2). Bangalir mukhyo mantri. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • ABP. (2009b, January 28). Ramānāther santāndal. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • ABP. (2009c, November 27). 90 bachoreo ki sabalok holo bangla cinema? Apnaar mot. Ananda Bazar Patrika, B3.

    Google Scholar 

  • ABP. (2010a, May 30). Bangalir nagorikata. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • ABP. (2010b, June 13). Bangalir football. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beteille, A. (2001, February 5). The Indian middle class. The Hindu. Retrieved January 3, 2011, from http://www.the-hindu.com/stories/05052523.htm

  • Bhattacharya, D. (2009, February 8). Bhuler paromporay dishehara Bangali. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biswas, M. (2010). Changing scenes. In M. Narula, S. Sengupta, J. Bagchi, R. Sundaram, et al. (Eds.), Sarai reader 08: Fear (pp. 196–205). Delhi: Center for the Study of Developing Societies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buruma, I. (1986). A tale of two Bengals. Far Eastern Economic Review, 63–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, D. (1992). Of garbage, modernity and the citizen’s gaze. Econ Pol Wkly, 27(10), 541–546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial thought and historical difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrobarty, G. (2010, March 9). Lekhak nie adikhyeta barong jiboniti janoon. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, P. (1997). The present history of West Bengal: Essays in political criticism. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chattopadhyay, S. (2010, June 17) Inkilab my son jindabad. The Times of India, B1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chattopadhyay, S. (2010b). Performative Bengali masculinity: The rhetoric of becoming in Bengali popular cinema of the 1950s. Studies in South Asian Film and Media, 2(1), 3–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chattopadhyay, S. (2011). Bengali masculinity and the national-masculine. Some conjectures for interpretation. South Asia Research, 31(3), 265–279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury, I. (2001). The frail hero and virile history: Gender and the politics of culture in colonial Bengal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W., et al. (2005). Introduction. In M. Kimmel et al. (Eds.), Handbook of studies on men and masculinities (pp. 1–12). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta, R. (2003). Creating corporate warriors: The “salaryman” and masculinity in Japan. In K. Louie & M. Low (Eds.), Asian masculinities: The meaning and practice of manhood in China and Japan (pp. 118–134). London: RoutledgeCurzon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derné, S. (2008). Globalization on the ground: Media and the transformation of culture, class, and gender in India. New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes, L. (2000). Nationalizing “the global”: Media images, cultural politics and the middle class in India. Media, Culture and Society, 22(5), 611–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ganguly-Scrase, R., & Scrase, T. J. (1999). A bitter pill or sweet nectar? Contradictory attitudes of salaried workers to economic liberalization in India. Development and Society, 28(2), 259–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage/Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaviraj, S. (1997). Filth and the public sphere: Concepts and practices about space in Calcutta. Public Culture, 10(1), 83–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaviraj, S. (2000). Laughter and subjectivity: The self-ironical tradition in Bengali literature. Modern Asian Studies, 34(2), 379–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. (2005). Globalization and its mal(e)contents: The gendered moral and political economy of terrorism. In M. Kimmel et al. (Eds.), Handbook of studies on men & masculinities (pp. 414–431). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Liechty, M. (2003). Suitably modern: Making middle-class culture in a new consumer society. Princeton. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzarella, W. (2000). Middle Class. Keywords in South Asian Studies. SOAS. http://www.soas.ac.uk/southasianstudies/keywords/file24808.pdf. Accessed 19 March 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzarella, W. (2003). Shoveling smoke: Advertising and globalization in contemporary India. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukherjee, S. (1975). Bhadralok in Bengali language and literature: An essay on the language of class and status. Bengal Past and Present, 95(2), 225–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhopadhyay, A. (2009, April 28). Bangali jagoyi jotheshto noy. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukhopadhyay, S. (2009, April 9). Coffee house e shuru coffee house ei shesh. Ananda Bazar Patrika, A18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosseli, J. (1980). The self image of effeteness: Physical education and nationalism in nineteenth century Bengal. Past and Present, 86, 121–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, B. (2009, January 15). Mobile, chat, samokamita? etukui notun bangaliana? Ananda Bazar Patrika, A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scrase, T. J. (1993). Image, ideology and inequality: Cultural domination, hegemony and schooling in India. Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scrase, T. J. (2002). Television, the middle classes and the transformation of cultural identities in West Bengal, India. International Communication Gazette, 64(4), 323–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singha, K. (1862). Hutom penchar naksha. Calcutta: Basumati Sahitya Mandir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, M. (1995). Colonial masculinity: The ‘manly Englishman’ and the ‘effeminate Bengali’ in the late nineteenth century. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sklair, L. (2001). The transnational capitalist class. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava, S. (2007). Constructing post-colonial India: National character and the Doon School. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Baruipur College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

    Saayan Chattopadhyay

Authors
  1. Saayan Chattopadhyay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saayan Chattopadhyay .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MCD University of Divinity, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Joseph Gelfer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chattopadhyay, S. (2014). Making the Global Bhadralok: Bengali Men and the Transnational Middle Class in India. In: Gelfer, J. (eds) Masculinities in a Global Era. International and Cultural Psychology, vol 4. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6931-5_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation