The Formative and Transformative Function of Desire in Ashis Nandy’s The Intimate Enemy: A Deleuzian Perspective
Muhammad Yousri Beltagi Ahmed Aql
Publication: Volume 1 Issue 3
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to examine the formative and transformative role of the concept of desire in one of the foundational texts of postcolonial theory: The Intimate Enemy (1983) by Ashis Nandy. The paper investigates the concept of desire by emphasizing its role not in baptizing the traditional forms of postcolonial identification but in constituting a mode of transformative resistance which relies upon the becoming of identity. The paper, first, discusses the prohibitive function of desire in the psychoanalytical register. Second, it examines the homology colonial discourse constituted between psychological identification and political domination. Finally, by adopting a Deleuzian perspective, it offers a critical analysis of the book’s central theme: the psychology of resistance, using Deleuze’s concept of becoming. It stems primarily from engaging Deleuze’s philosophy of becoming with Nandy’s perception of the psychology of resistance.
Keywords: Resistance, Desire, Becoming-postcolonial, The Virtual, The people-to-come, Deleuze
Muhammad Yousri Beltagi Ahmed Aql (muhammad.yousry87@gmail.com) is an assistant lecturer of English language and literature in the Department of English, Kafrelshiekh University. His research interests include: critical and cultural theory, postcolonial studies and comparative literature. His Ph.D. research examines the relationship between literature and politics in Deleuze’s philosophy with particular reference to selected Arabic and English plays