Not-Feminism: A Discourse on the Politics of a Term in Modern Indian Theatre

When speaking and writing about their theatrical practice, many women working in modern Indian theatre reject the terminology and teleology of what they see as neoliberal feminism. Taking my cue from the thoughts and writings of the most well-known female directors, actors, and playwrights of post-independence Indian theatre, I argue that theatrical performance in modern India offers a unique vehicle for agency, authorship, and engaging with the challenging task of creating a discourse of women and women's rights. Significantly, this discourse is formulated around the decolonial notion of not-feminism, rejecting Western feminism and in the very action of rejection creating its own space of future-oriented aesthetic articulation. K. Frances Lieder is a PhD candidate in interdisciplinary theatre studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her current research interests include the ethics of witnessing and the role(s) of violence in performances in "the Global South," political performance in public spaces, and the performance of gender in popular culture in South Asia. Her most recent performance credits include directing a staged reading of Harvest and a site-specific performance of Lights Out, both by Manjula Padmanabhan.