| dc.description.abstract | Based on short, but extensive, research, this thesis "The Art of Longing and Belonging: Kolam as a Reflection of Women' s Complex Relations with Identity and Power in Contemporary India" , proposes kolam practices as a metaphor to understand how middle class women in urban India underscore some identity dispositions and play-down others, in order to find belonging in a society which is characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behaviour, social organizations and value systems. Just like the self-contained dots in a kolam, are part of a larger framework, illustrating the critical interplay between an actor and existing power structures, I will elucidate, through the narratives of several women, the complexities of intersectional identities as well as the role of power, as women are bound to the audience they are allowed to perform their identities to. | |
