The Role of Gender and Cultural Psychology in the Discourse of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Arranged Marriage

Abstract

The term 'Cultural Psychology' refers to the idea that culture and mind are inseparable. Cultural Psychology has its root from the 1960s and 1970s. But it has attained its zenith and popularity during the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the prominent cultural psychologists are Harry C. Triandis, Fiske, Hofstede, Susan T. Fiske, Eva Magnusson, Jeanne Marecek, Hazel Rose Markus, Shinobu Kittayama, Richard Shweder etc. The present study aims to portray the issues of gender bias and male domination through the cultural conflict which affects the characters physically and psychologically in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Arranged Marriage. The Introduction deals with the overall view of the stories and themes. The Literature review focuses on the studies relevant to cultural psychology. The Methodology section discusses the cultural and gender issues with the theory and approaches of Eva Magnusson and Jeanne Marecek's Gender and Culture in Psychology. The Discussion part gives the results of the study. The study is compared and discussed with the other studies relevant to gender-based and cultural psychology concepts. The conclusion sums up the entire study and its limitation and scope for future researchers.