Policing Respectability in the Age of Reform: Performing Modernity in Shyam Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens

 

Cassandra L. Lowen
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor

Shyam Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens examines how colonial modernity in early twentieth-century Ceylon is performed and policed through gender, sexuality, and social reputation. The novel portrays elite Tamil society as invested in appearing progressive, through education, reformist ideals, and adherence to British colonial norms, while simultaneously enforcing strict codes of respectability that constrain intimacy. This paper argues that Selvadurai presents modernity not as a liberatory force but as an anxious social performance, where public appearances of progress obscure private tensions and social hierarchies. Through close readings of excerpts involving marriage negotiations and domestic surveillance, I explore how characters navigate the pressures of visibility and conformity. By situating these textual dynamics within scholarly conversations on colonialism and social reform, the paper demonstrates that Cinnamon Gardens critiques the illusion of liberal advancement, revealing that modern identity in the colonial context is both performative and deeply disciplinary.

Keywords: Cinnamon Gardens, colonial modernity, gender, sexuality, respectability, social performance, Shyam Selvadurai, Ceylon

Topic(s):English

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA