1
Of Self-Hating Indians and Mindless Apes: Women and National Identity in
Deepa Mehta’s
Fire
Currently there is much enthusiasm in the academy for conversations on issues
of hybridity, transculturalism, and globalization. While the engagement with
these are of extreme significance and solely needed, I argue that we need to look
at responses that divide communities at the same time we study moments of
contemporary fusion. In a larger research project I identify what I call a
‘pastoralized ethnic identity’ – the claiming of a nostalgic past – in reaction to
globalization and transnationalism , and explore how women are situated in this
trans/nationlistic discourse. In keeping with this, the following paper looks at
the film Fire, a 1996 release by Indian born Canadian film maker, Deepa Mehta.
Specifically, the paper discusses the controversy surrounding a review of Fire in
India’s renowned women’s magazine Manushi . It attempts to connect the
various dialogues that arose on the South Asian Women’s Network (SAWNET)
in reaction to the review and looks at the identities that were constructed both in
denouncement and defense of the film. An analysis of the reactions from the
members of SAWNET, who are women in and outside of India, both lesbian and
heterosexual, highlight the complexity of claiming “authenticity” as Indians,
especially Indian women “outside” of India, and the struggle to balance
pastoralized tradition with new world (post)modernity.
Page 1 of 21 
Convention