The fact of otherness: Towards liberating the subaltern consciousness in contemporary management education

© 2016 selection and editorial material, Chris Steyaert, Timon Beyes and Martin Parker.Almost a century ago, Saratcandra Chattopadhyay published his powerful novel, Devdas (2002 [1917]). Devdas narrates the tragic story of its title character, a young Bengali man whose socio-cultural position requires him to negotiate his gendered identity at the liminal juncture that is constitutive of colonial India. Devdas has a longing affection for his childhood playmate Parvati, and yet is ultimately unable to pursue a relationship with her because of a set of complex psycho-sexual dynamics engendered by British imperialism; namely, in attempting to discursively subvert the essentialized depictions of the identity of the colonized Bengali man as being `effete, promiscuous, and degenerate¿, Devdas must negate his libidinal desires to contravene the stereotypes cast upon him by his colonial masters (Arora 1995: 269). In doing so, his love goes forever unconsummated.