South Asian Borders: Political Masculinities and the Myth of the Motherland

The male gaze inflates confined women’s bodies into national metaphors, reinforcing hegemonic narratives of protection that justify territorial control through the creation of borders. In contrast, feminist visions of liberated bodies reject control, rendering borders redundant. To explore this tension, I analyze Abanindranath Tagore’s portrait of Bharatmata (Mother India or Motherland) through a feminist lens, using textual analysis and a systematic review of feminist writings. Political and hegemonic masculinities provide the analytical framework for this paper, anchored in transnational, intersectional and abolitionist feminism to explore how South Asian borders are shaped by patriarchy, with masculine control entrenched since the creation of nations.