Paper Title
Performing Gender: A Butlerian Reading of Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp
Article Identifiers
Registration ID: IJNRD_326729
Published ID: IJNRD2606470
: https://doi.org/10.56975/ijnrd.v11i6.326729
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Keywords
Gender performativity, Patriarchy, Women resistance, Gender roles, community expectations, subversion
Abstract
This research paper applies Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity to Heart Lamp: Selected Stories (2024), a short story collection by Banu Mushtaq translated by Deepa Bhasthi. The book brings together twelve stories written over three decades (1990–2023) that centre on the everyday lives of Muslim women in Karnataka, a state in southern India. Butler's theory suggests that gender is not something we are born with naturally, but something we "perform" repeatedly again and again through our actions, words, and behaviours — much like an actor following a script. Society tells us how to act like a "proper" woman or a "proper" man, and we repeat these behaviours until they begin to feel natural, even though they are really social rules we have learned. This research paper examines how the women in Mushtaq's stories perform their allotted roles as daughters, wives, mothers, and members of their community. It indicates that these identities are not biological facts, but are created and reinforced by larger social forces — patriarchy (male-dominated systems), religion, caste hierarchies, and class divisions. The women in these stories constantly work to meet expectations: they must be dutiful, obedient, quiet, and self-sacrificing. Failure to do so means facing humiliation, punishment, or exclusion. However, the article also finds that the most powerful and memorable moments in the collection involving women occur when female characters refuse to comply with traditional societal expectations. By actively resisting, speaking out against imposed demands, or intentionally failing to meet these restrictive standards, and assert their true humanity. When a character refuses to stay silent, or a mother chooses her own needs over her family's, or a young woman questions tradition — these moments reveal cracks in the system. The norms that claim to be permanent and unchangeable suddenly look fragile, man-made, and breakable. In conclusion, this article shows that Heart Lamp is not just a collection of stories about Muslim women in Karnataka. It is a powerful illustration of how gender is performed under pressure, and how resistance — even small, quiet acts of refusal — can expose the truth that the rules we live by are not fixed. They are performances. And performances can be rewritten.
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How To Cite (APA)
Preeti Sagar & Dr. Kamana Srivastava (June 2026). Performing Gender: A Butlerian Reading of Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 11(6), e611-e616. https://doi.org/10.56975/ijnrd.v11i6.326729
Issue
Volume 11 Issue 6, June-2026
Pages : e611-e616
Other Publication Details
Paper Reg. ID: IJNRD_326729
Published Paper Id: IJNRD2606470
Research Area: Arts All
Author Type: Indian Author
Country: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh , India
Published Paper PDF: https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2606470.pdf
Published Paper URL: https://ijnrd.org/viewpaperforall?paper=IJNRD2606470
Crossref DOI: https://doi.org/10.56975/ijnrd.v11i6.326729
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