LGBTIQ

Discourse Analysis seeks to answer these kinds of affecting the tribals (peasants) (Spivak 7). Devi’s questions by maintaining a commitment to certain uses specific characters’ language to reveal the principles and aims. Some of these principles complexity within the heterogeneous coalition. include: political commitment, relationship For example, the language of Dopti (Draupadi) between language and the social, interdisciplinary is incomprehensible, “Samaray hijulenako mar research, inclusion of the goekope…hendre rambra historical perspective, The emotions [Devi] keche keche” (Devi 21), to discourse as action, and the Captain, the character evokes in her writing are the social construction most notably symbolizing of meanings (Wodak colonialism. telling of the frustrations 3). Because Devi and Anzaldúa bend the power one may feel while being Devi’s combination of structures within literary at the margins answering Bengali and English is discourse, it becomes clear intentionally structured to the dominant, exclusive that this form of analysis is in a way that provides imperative in understanding discourse shaping reality. political criticism within the works of Devi and the context of colonialism, Anzaldúa, in a literary and also forces discomfort sense. With this background knowledge the depth in the reader by generating unintelligible moments and intentionality within their writing becomes unaligned with prevailing discourse. Within this even more rich and ingenious. process of discomfort she is also providing a critique of First World to Third World ideologies.

The language used in Devi’s “Draupadi” is both We the western reader, the “enlightened” reader, Bengali and English. In the English translated text want to logically understand and then fix the there are English words italicized to represent the Third World. Her writing evokes frustration and words in the original text that are also in English. confusion, but also produces a new kind of reality The Translator’s Note: in the confusion. The emotions she evokes in her writing are telling of the frustrations one may All words in English in the original have been feel while being at the margins answering to the italicized. This makes the English page difficult to dominant, exclusive discourse shaping reality. Her read. The difficulty is a reminder of the intimacy writing is meant to provide a sense of solidarity-of the colonial encounter. Mahasweta’s stories are an equal playing field. Devi’s writing embodies postcolonial. They must operate with the resources intersectionality in that is privileges different of a History shaped by colonization against languages through different contexts, making the the legacy of colonialism. The language of the reading active, shifting the discourse. practical everyday life of all classes (including the subaltern), profoundly marked by English, mimes Gloria Anzaldúa is most notably known for her the historical sedimentation of colonialism by the concept of “borderlands”, as illustrated in her degree to which the words and phrases have been book, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. lexicalized, and the degree to which, therefore, She goes beyond the understanding of “borders,” they exist ‘independently’ in Bengali (Spivak 158). that which are dividing lines, into the notion of borderlands- a social and cultural, psychological, The setting of “Draupadi” mirrors the 1967 spiritual terrain where the possibility of uniting all peasant rebellion in the Naxalbari area of the that is separate occurs (Keating 187). Anzaldúa northern part of West Bengal. In this successful writes: rebellion, there was a coalition made of peasant and intellectual. The success of the coalition was I intended Borderlands not only to spread but also inevitably ended by the political powers of the to produce knowledge. The whole time I’ve been Indian Prime Minister who essentially did away in school the producers of knowledge have been with the rebellious sections, most significantly middle- and upper-class white people- those with