Reiki crins: A subaltern character in blacklisted in Bhutan: Love lost and transformed in the land of gross national happiness

Abstract

This paper explores Reiki Crins as a subaltern character in her memoir Blacklisted in Bhutan: Love Lost and Love Transformed in the Land of Gross National Happiness in the light of the subaltern perspective. The memoir revolves around Crins’ journey and her struggle to motivate and educate the youths of Bhutan, providing job opportunities and happiness in Tsachaphu village. Oscillating between the declaration of Bhutan as the world’s happiest country and the real-life experiences of the Bhutanese, she strives to confront pragmatic problems in the village in which she plays a significant role in elevating the particular village's condition. However, Crins, a citizen from the Netherlands, is blacklisted. This research paper, therefore, focusing on Rieki Crins, deals with the three specific questions: What contradiction does she confront while visiting Bhutan? Why is she blacklisted despite her good work? And how is she a subaltern character in her memoir? To answer these questions, this research employs Antonio Gramsci, Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak’s notion of ‘Subaltern,’ and ‘Ranajit Guha’s concept of ‘Reflective Action.’ The paper claims that Reiki Crins, indeed, is a subaltern character; however, she takes particular space as a resistive site, and being within the periphery challenges the structural domination of the Bhutanese government. Subalterns are the subordinated category of people in a particular place at a specific time; nevertheless, they are relative and in continuous flux. Thus, using the flexible position of a subaltern, Crins, challenges the hegemonic force of the dominant and portrays the self as an agency to the ordinary people. In this regard, Crins’ memoir is a projection of a subaltern character, who uses subaltern consciousness to speak for the voiceless. Keywords: Subaltern, Consciousness, Domination, Resistance and Recognition