Neither Devi nor Desh: the retelling of gendered violence in Indian graphic narratives

Gender-based violence and its extreme form as femicide is a global problem that has been rendered invisible by three interlinked factors: its embeddedness in cultural traditions and practices, the fact that it primarily takes place at home and at the hand of family members or partners, and by its misrecognition in the wordings of the law. This research will focus on the specificity of the Indian context, showing how graphic narratives have developed a strategy for activism and advocacy to change perceptions of gender-based violence and its consequences on survivors and their social environment. The research identifies specific approaches to the characterisation of survivors, between the idolised image of the “untouchable” and pure goddesses (Devi) and the symbolic representation of the nation (Desh) in the Hindu tradition as vulnerable to foreign conquest and corruption. Between these two extremes, the graphic narratives explored in the research present down-to-earth characters and real women from all walks of life and from different castes and ethnicities who are united by their will to stand up against violence and challenge power hierarchies underpinned by sex inequality. Most of the graphic narratives selected for the purpose of this study have been created in the aftermath of the Delhi femicide of 2012. Described as the Nirbhaya effect, the event reinforced the image of Indian women as targets of rape or assault in news media and fictionalised representations in film documentaries or TV dramas. Graphic narratives approached the Nirbhaya case differently as in the works of female creators, such as Priya Kurian, Vidhyun Sabhaney, Neha Dixit, and Ita Mehrotra, among others, who have used graphic narratives as a form of visual storytelling to critique and challenge the notions of Indianness and sex-inequality that shape the lives, identities, and experiences of women in India and underpin their individual encounter with violence. Deploying features from four main subgenres, namely, testimonials and collaborative comics, graphic justice, sacred comics, and graphic journalism, the key texts analysed in this thesis show the powerful presence of Devi and Desh, the archetypes of the goddess and the nation, in the testimonials of survivors. Sacred texts such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata stand as venerable sources encapsulating the historical narratives, legends, and traditions that have profoundly shaped and influenced the cultural identity of India. While providing a platform for collective narratives of women who have experienced trauma, violence, and oppression, graphic narratives are thus shown to navigate competing visions of womanhood between the sacred and the political, between the demands of the tradition and the demands of Hindu nationalism. Ultimately, it is graphic justice that is at stake, as well as the attempt to contest and challenge the wording of the law. Graphic narratives are the tribunal of the tradition and competing versions of Indianness and function as a tool for social-political critique and the pursuit of justice.