Abstract
The paper examines the process of naturalising the ‘country’ as a practice
of domestication, regulation and ultimately a consolidation of both
domestic and colonial authority. It does so with a specific reference to
Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814). Focusing on domestic order, it
foregrounds the premise on which peripheral locations and isolated
spaces of the domestic realm, far removed from the centres of power,
became intangible strongholds of putatively political power. The absent
spatial boundaries of the household and the landscape are explored as
operative components in the creation of domestic and national order.
Focusing on matters of spatiality examined in the domestic novel, the
paper delves into the imperceptible mechanisms of erasure which are
indiscernibly entangled with the normalisation of the body, the domestic
realm and consequentially the remote and unfamiliar bodies and
territories of outlying colonial regions. The paper further investigates
the different ways in which absent boundaries facilitate the endorsement
of hegemonic power, exploring how the borders of both space
and individual consciousness are permeated through invisible mechanisms
of regulation. The ensuing permeation of power is explored as a
process of dematerialisation of both the female body and the material
constituents of space. Emptied of intuition, the individual domestic
woman forgoes the constraints of her material self and acts instead as a
public body. Similarly, the landscape exchanges its material substance
for an idealised scene, emphasising extended views. Acting as a fixed,
unchangeable spatial backdrop, the unpopulated and timeless landscape
is denied practices of human labour, naturalising and consequently
appropriating the actions of domestic life as a centre of authority.
of domestication, regulation and ultimately a consolidation of both
domestic and colonial authority. It does so with a specific reference to
Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814). Focusing on domestic order, it
foregrounds the premise on which peripheral locations and isolated
spaces of the domestic realm, far removed from the centres of power,
became intangible strongholds of putatively political power. The absent
spatial boundaries of the household and the landscape are explored as
operative components in the creation of domestic and national order.
Focusing on matters of spatiality examined in the domestic novel, the
paper delves into the imperceptible mechanisms of erasure which are
indiscernibly entangled with the normalisation of the body, the domestic
realm and consequentially the remote and unfamiliar bodies and
territories of outlying colonial regions. The paper further investigates
the different ways in which absent boundaries facilitate the endorsement
of hegemonic power, exploring how the borders of both space
and individual consciousness are permeated through invisible mechanisms
of regulation. The ensuing permeation of power is explored as a
process of dematerialisation of both the female body and the material
constituents of space. Emptied of intuition, the individual domestic
woman forgoes the constraints of her material self and acts instead as a
public body. Similarly, the landscape exchanges its material substance
for an idealised scene, emphasising extended views. Acting as a fixed,
unchangeable spatial backdrop, the unpopulated and timeless landscape
is denied practices of human labour, naturalising and consequently
appropriating the actions of domestic life as a centre of authority.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 81-95 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Field |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- Colonialism Domestic Patriarchy Normalisation Austen