Creation of texts as sites of resistance and assertion of women’s agency: A study of Sultana’s Dream as a literary text and a film

Women are largely marginalized from mainstream written cultures under patriarchy. They, however, always tell stories and sing songs, creating alternative narrative spaces. In 1905, Rokeya Hossain, a woman from colonial India, wrote a futuristic feminist utopia called Sultana’s Dream. It became an iconic feminist text, a torchbearer of the women’s movement for the Indian subcontinent. More than a century later, filmmaker Isabel Herguera created an animation feature finding resonance of Rokeya’s text in the struggles of women of contemporary times and generations of women before her. The proposed article involves a close reading of Rokeya’s text, an interview of Isabel Herguera and an analysis of the production of the film. It situates both the texts as important sites of resistance for patriarchy. The collective process lying at the heart of the film juxtaposes diverse styles, collaborations of professionals and non-professionals across continents creating a shared space and ‘agency’.