Feminist Implications of the Instagram Content of Rupi Kaur.

Abstract

Rupi Kaur is a Canada-based activist, poet and a prose writer with an Indian origin whose main platform of expression is Instagram. Kaur’s artistic expressions include poetry which are often coupled with complementary illustrations, prose pieces and photographs all of which are published online. Often critiqued as a feminist poet, her pieces are concerned with the struggles and various experiences that are faced by the women of color living in the West. Moreover, her photographs speak of a female experience that ought to be taken into account. My main focus in this study is to decipher the feminist implications of the written and illustrational pieces of Kaur. In this endeavor, a textual analysis is conducted considering the content posted on Rupi Kaur’s Instagram account during a time span of twelve months as the primary source. The study employs Alice Walker’s theory on Womanism and Michel Foucault’s views on docile bodies as a theoretical foundation on which the research is based. Additionally, I also incorporate postcolonial viewpoints on exile and diasporic identity. In this study, the researcher observes the way Kaur discusses and celebrates a female experience vis-à-vis femininity, which goes beyond the stereotypical representation of femininity as an equivalent to fragility. Thus, while acknowledging the specific cultural and historical causes that resulted womanism, the study argues that her work is feminist, furthering the argument to trace womanist implications in her work. Secondarily, the study also observes Kaur’s work in relation to the content created by the other web-based activists.