Scholarlink

<p>Indra Sinha’s <i>Animal’s People</i> (2007) narrates the story of nineteen-year-old Animal, a severely disabled survivor of a gas leak in Khaufpur, a fictionalized version of post-1984 Bhopal. The novel explores disability as a medical, physical, and social construct, with Animal’s disfigurement shaping both his identity and Sinha’s critique of power, marginalization, and industrial negligence in a poverty-stricken ‘third-world’ society. Rejecting victimhood and resisting neoliberal, Eurocentric models of disability tied to individuality and consumerism, Animal asserts a radical self-definition that negotiates intersections of class, embodiment, sexuality, and local cultural norms, undoing simplistic disabled/nondisabled; human/animal binaries. However, this paper argues that his desire for a consensual sexual relationship complicates his claimed animal identity. His interactions with the American doctor, Elli, exemplify this tension—despite his defiance, he yearns for her ‘cure’ to enhance his sexual desirability. The novel thus raises critical questions about the intersections of desirability, impairment, disability, and cure. Through a critical disability studies lens, this paper examines how <i>Animal’s People</i> challenges dominant representations of disability, reconfigures macro-developmental discourses, and calls for the indigenization of disability frameworks. In doing so, it expands understandings of disability, disease, and human experience.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Disability, sexuality, and ‘cure’ in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s people

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月14日

查看全文
  • Rimjhim Bhattacherjee

摘要

Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People (2007) narrates the story of nineteen-year-old Animal, a severely disabled survivor of a gas leak in Khaufpur, a fictionalized version of post-1984 Bhopal. The novel explores disability as a medical, physical, and social construct, with Animal’s disfigurement shaping both his identity and Sinha’s critique of power, marginalization, and industrial negligence in a poverty-stricken ‘third-world’ society. Rejecting victimhood and resisting neoliberal, Eurocentric models of disability tied to individuality and consumerism, Animal asserts a radical self-definition that negotiates intersections of class, embodiment, sexuality, and local cultural norms, undoing simplistic disabled/nondisabled; human/animal binaries. However, this paper argues that his desire for a consensual sexual relationship complicates his claimed animal identity. His interactions with the American doctor, Elli, exemplify this tension—despite his defiance, he yearns for her ‘cure’ to enhance his sexual desirability. The novel thus raises critical questions about the intersections of desirability, impairment, disability, and cure. Through a critical disability studies lens, this paper examines how Animal’s People challenges dominant representations of disability, reconfigures macro-developmental discourses, and calls for the indigenization of disability frameworks. In doing so, it expands understandings of disability, disease, and human experience.