Fw: H-ASIA: Wondering about "Mrs. Gandhi" phenomenon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 10:42 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: Wondering about "Mrs. Gandhi" phenomenon

> H-ASIA
> October 31, 2011
>
> Further comment re: wondering about "Mrs. Gandhi" phenomenon
> *********************************************************************
> From: Prof. D. Parthasarathy <dp@hss.iitb.ac.in>
>
> Perhaps we are missing a point here? In addition to the diverse views
> on the "Mrs.Gandhi" phenomenon presented here, one could also
> percieve the naming choice not as demeaning or marginalizing, but in
> terms of giving respect.
>
> Wherever status based distinctions are strong, members of lower
> status groups (women, lower castes, minorities, labouring classes)
> are referred to either by their first names, with no honorific
> prefixed or suffixed, or using specially designed abusive terms.
>
> And so the difference between Indira Gandhi and Mrs.Gandhi is also
> the difference between Vajpayee and Mr.Vajpayee. The "Mrs" is to be
> seen not merely as a gendered marital status term, but as the
> counterpart of "Mr". It is perhaps the sensitivity to the idea that
> referring to women without an honorific prefix may convey a demeaning
> attitude towards women that is responsible for the popular use of
> "Mrs". One suspects that this could also explain "Mrs. Thatcher".
> Witness the recent "calm down, dear" controversy involving David
> Cameron. As an ex-colony, we are simply following the norms of the
> mother country, we didn't invent patriarchy, merely joined it to
> caste and created unique versions.
>
> I suspect that kinship, gender, and respect are all involved in
> naming choices in addition to other factors. Hence the choice of Amma
> (Indira Gandhi and Jayalalitha), Kumari (Mayawati and Jayalalitha),
> Selvi (Jayalalitha), Didi (Mamata Banerjee ) and Behen (Mayawati). My
> favourite prefix is Puratchi Thalaivi Dr.Selvi J.Jayalalitha.
>
>
> D. Parthasarathy
> Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
> Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
>
> ******************************************************************
> To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to:
> <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu>
> For holidays or short absences send post to:
> <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message:
> SET H-ASIA NOMAIL
> Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL
> H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/