Gopinath juxtaposes diverse texts to indicate the range of oppositional practices, subjectivities, and visions of collectivity that fall outside not only mainstream narratives of diaspora, colonialism, and nationalism but also most projects of liberal feminism and gay and lesbian politics and theory. She considers British Asian music of the 1990s alongside alternative media and cultural practices. Among the fictional works she discusses are V. S. Naipaulâs classic novel A House for Mr. Biswas, Ismat Chughtaiâs short story âThe Quilt,â Monica Aliâs Brick Lane, Shyam Selvaduraiâs Funny Boy, and Shani Mootooâs Cereus Blooms at Night. Analyzing films including Deepa Mehtaâs controversial Fire and Mira Nairâs Monsoon Wedding, she pays particular attention to how South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers have reworked Bollywoodâs strategies of queer representation and to what is lost or gained in this process of translation. Gopinathâs readings are dazzling, and her theoretical framework transformative and far-reaching.
Gayatri Gopinath is Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of California, Davis.