This presentation was prepared to present my research paper titled" Stigma of disability and Self-conception in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh during International Summit - 5th Indian Social Sciences and Humanities Congress, Samagam, 2019 at Jadavpur Uni, Kolkata, India during 7-8 Sept, 2019

1. 5th
Indian Social Sciences and Humanities
Congress 2019
Jadavpur University, Kolkata
7-8 September,2019
By Aahuti Dhandhukia
Asst Prof (English), Government Engineering College, Bhavnagar
Research Scholar (Ph.D), M K Bhavnagar University, Gujarat, India

2. Stigma of Disability and Self-Conception
in Salman Rushdie’s
The Moor’s Last Sigh
Department: English Language and Literature
Sub-theme: Representing the Disabled

3. Structure of Paper
• Research Relevance
• Literature Review
 Socio-cultural Perspectives towards Disability
 Stigma and Disability : Erving Goffman
 Self- Conception
 Stigma: The Experience of Disability: Paul Hunt
• Methodology
• Critical Analysis of The Moor’s Last Sigh
• Conclusion

4. Research Relevance
• Society’s power-structures enforce marginalization to the Disabled.
• Disability Studies develops insight for disabled as Human Being.
• UN’s Disability and Millennium Development Goals 2011
• Integrating Disabled people for Inclusive Society
• Goffman’s concept of Stigma –Differentness as Otherness
• Fewer Qualitative, Exploratory Studies on Stigma
• Stigma affects self-conception, well-being and quality of life.
• Literature embeds human values, shapes social consciousness.
• Stigma of race, class, gender in Literature: need to study Disability

5. Socio-cultural Perspectives towards Disability
• According to WHO Disability is ‘impairment’, ‘activity
limitation’, ‘participation restriction’
• Cultural, Medical and Social Model of Disability Studies
• Historical prevalence of Marginalization
• Medical Model- Disability as ‘Personal Tragedy’
• Disability as socio-cultural construct and Social Model
• Need for interdisciplinary approaches
• Disability not as Metaphor but as Character in Literature

6. Stigma in Literature

7. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoilt Identity
Erving Goffman (1963)
• Stigma originated from Greek referring to the signs displayed on body showing
‘morally corrupt’ about the person.
• A process which creates ‘otherness’ for those who are ‘different’ from Norm.
• Human attributes in non-conformity with stereotype and hence disqualified are
stigmatized.
• Society’ s power-structure imposes stigma.
• Reduces social identity to specific stigmatized attributes.
• Stigma of Physical Disability is “ external Internalized”. Body itself is signifier.
• Physical/visible disability -‘discredited’, Mental disorders –’discreditable’
• “ a property, a process, a form of social catagorization and an affective state”-
Lerita C Brown

8. Types of Stigma
Physical Disability
Blemishes of
Individual Character
Tribal stigma
Society has uncompromizing norms for
physical appearance
Mental disorders, un-natural passion,
imprisonment, radical political behaviour
Race, Nation, Religion
Intersectionalizing of Stigma affects
enormously.

9. Sigma and Self-Conception
“Self-conception is Double Consciousness”- Garland- Thomson
Stigma affects well-being and Quality Human Life.
Self-
Conception
Self-hate
Alienation
Self-
confinement
DepressionStressDependence
Status-
loss
apologetic

10. Stigma: Experience of Disability
Paul Hunt, 1966
• “The problem of disability lies not only in the impairment of function, but more importantly in
our relation with normal people”.-Paul Hunt
• This ‘uncomfortable book’ is pioneering book to give rise to disability activist movement of
1960-80.
• All authors have physical/ intellectual, congenital/acquired disability. It is authentic record of
their functional impairment and being disabled against social discrimination and
environmental barriers.
• Places Disability from private sphere of Medical Model to public domain of social concern
and action.
• “ To give my life to the best of my ability: to put the most in and get most out” –Mona Younis

11. Methodology
• Literary Research
• Qualitative research
• Exploratory Research
• Library research
• Stigma theory with Disability Studies
• Content Analysis of Literary Text

12. The Moor’s Last Sigh
• Physical/ visible disability
• Stigma of aging with double quick
• Deformed right hand-concealing
through muffler
• Moor hiding hand in pocket
• Asthama, knee-back pain
• Seeking ‘correction’ of disability
• Medical specimen-Breach Candy
Hospital is “ Benevolent Torture
Chamber”
Physical
Disability of
Progeria –
physical growth
with double quick
PC Google Image

13. Stigma of Race
Physical disability collides with stigma of race, nation and culture.
“Stigma of race is denial to Humanity, Agency, Liberty”- Howarth
Mother Aurora, Portuguese, illegitimate descendant of Vasco-de-
Gama and father Abraham is Cochin Jew- unlawful descendant
of Boabdil-last Moorish Sultan of Granada expelled in 1492.
Stigma of race can be transmitted through lineages and equally
contaminate all members of a family.(Goffman)
Moor feels self-guilt about ‘culturally wrong’ identity.
Moor is conscious of “ inescapable jails of colour, race and class”.

14. Stigma of Mental Disorders
Disharmony between physical growth and emotional development
Dilemma of being young or old
Internalized oppression
Self- consciousness leads to skepticism, bashfulness, inferiority-
complex, sleep-disorder
Mental illness is unshared and being ‘ discreditable’ hangs over
Moor throughout the Novel.

15. Relationship- No ‘Own’ , No ‘Wise’
Parental ignorance and apathy.
Mother lacks genuine care for upbringing.
Father is “ Melancholy shadow of puzzlement”.
“What was harder was the feeling of being ugly, malformed, wrong…what was
hardest of all was the sense of being an embarrassment, a shame ”.
Stigmatized are also the Victimized in society.
Victimized by teacher, abused by Vasco-Miranda, revenged by Aaya
Seduced by young, pretty Uma Saraswati
When mother disapproves his relationship-” Could I face my dark fate
alone, without a lover by my side?”

16. Self-guilt and Self- development
Disability is burden of Sin
“ I am, for my many sins, for my grievous fault, a man living
double quick.“
• Moor’s Sigh echoes worthlessness and nothingness of his life-
“A Last Sigh for a Lost world, a tear for its passing”.
Moor achieves self-dependence and moral development.
He undergoes spiritual crisis and feels repentance for his life.
From life of ‘ complication and collapse’ to ‘crucifixion and
confession’

17. Conclusion
• Disability portrayed at theme and character level gives faithful
experience of lived reality while symbolic representation highlights
socio-cultural perspectives and marginalization.
• Stigma is socio-cultural, human construct. Fluid not fixed.
• Stigma of physical disability arises even by ‘ different’ exposure,
appearance and existence as such.
• Multiple stigma becomes enormous to cause manifold deprivation.
• Collective responsibility of Government, Society, Education to
deconstruct prevailing stigma for Inclusive Society.

18. Works cited
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