‘Inauspicious Seeing’ and Post-Millennial Indian Graphic Narratives

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A research presentation which will explore post-millennial Indian graphic narratives via the notion of ’inauspicious seeing’.

Abstract: This paper outlines the idea of ‘inauspicious seeing’ in relation to Indian graphic narratives and how this can guide analysis of the growing canon of post-millennial Indian graphic narratives. Using examples of post-millennial Indian graphic narratives in English, this paper will argue how the ‘inauspicious’ is created through both form and content, and by extension how ideas of Indianness are critiqued through this mode by ‘seeing and knowing’ (following Bhatti and Pinney, 2011). The paper closes in consideration of how we might ‘know’ through the inauspicious and what role(s) this plays within post-millennial society especially with regards to (evolving) ideas of ‘Indianness’.

Presenter biography: E. Dawson Varughese’s research examines the encoding of Indian post-millennial modernity through popular literary and (visual) artistic expression. She publishes on genre fiction, graphic novels and narratives, domestic Indian book cover design and public wall art; a central theme to her research is (evolving) ideas of Indianness. Her most recent book is published by Palgrave, entitled Visuality and Identity in post-millennial Indian graphic narratives (2017). An independent scholar, she divides her time between the UK and India. She was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Delhi (English in 2017; Sociology in 2018).