“Ways of seeing” gender through caste in Tinkle comics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22003290 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Suniti Madaan (0009-0008-9709-3181, Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2150-4857 • E-ISSN: 2150-4865 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/21504857.2025.2596703 |
| OpenAlex | W4416915172 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
Tinkle comics are an anthology of comics ranging from romance, detective, funnies, folktales, trivia and more, that began publication in the year 1980, after a successful run of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) 1967 onwards. Tinkle was devised as ‘more contemporary and cosmopolitan.’ than ACK. This paper focuses on a few one-shot comics in Tinkle which depict female characters as ordinary women living within caste-defined patriarchal setups. They are not the powerful and reverent superheroines or goddesses popular in other contemporary comics of the time. Since Tinkle comics were designed for children, I read them through the scope of ‘shadow texts,’ which acts as a hidden repertoire in children’s literature. Similar to the gutter space in the comic form, shadow texts rely on the reader to fill out the missing information in the narrative. This missing information is provided by the workings of caste-based norms, which constitute the social system that is dominant in India. The child reader fills in these gaps through their own experience. The comic narratives I am looking at are designed as fantasy, and read through Frederic Jameson’s concept of the political unconscious (1981) work as symbolic solutions to social conditions of caste-based patriarchy. ‘Jugaad’ tactics (which are hack-job solutions for systemic problems) are deployed to bring the fantasy to a closure are recognised as a site for the contradiction between convention and desire for transgression to play out. The paper thus argues that in the fantasy narratives concerning women in Tinkle comics, the political unconscious of caste, patriarchy, and a desire for transgressing these circumstances, are revealed
Caste · Comics · Feminism · Popular culture · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Crafts, Textile, and Design · South Asian Cinema and Culture
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |