Making Miss India Miss World: Constructing Gender, Power and the Nation in Postliberalization India (review)

In Making Miss India Miss World, Dewey provides a persuasive account of the complex interconnection between globalization, nation and gender through the detailed analysis of Miss India pageant, particularly in the years following the economic liberalization in India. Dewey’s analysis in this book is drawn on a careful distinction between “beauty as an oppressive and hegemonic concept and beauty as empowering practice” (4) as these seemingly contradictory and yet complimentary performances are enacted within the institution of beauty pageants. Focusing on Miss India pageant as a site of “beauty, power, and class” (6), Dewey examines the ways in which femininity as a cultural performance and a capitalist phenomenon is manifested and reinforced through the interaction between global standards of beauty and national identity. The book’s central argument is that Miss India pageant in post-liberalization era has made available a socially approved space to urban middle and upper-class women, who challenge their identities, negotiate their feminine beauty, and exercise their agency to achieve social mobility, although such opportunities only last for a short period of time.

The seven chapters in this book present an in-depth and well documented analysis of cultural performance of beauty as an embodiment as well as commodification of national identity and femininity. Organized around three key themes, part one of this book includes two chapters on the central idea of the “power of the gaze.” Part two focuses on “gender,” and part three is organized around the main issue of “globalization.” Dewey brings these three themes together in her analysis by drawing on rich ethnographic data collected through participant observation and several interviews conducted during her field visits to India. The book also includes visual illustrations of the performative nature of beauty as embodied by former Miss India contestants, Miss World, and Miss Universe.

In Chapter One, Dewey briefly presents a historical overview of the Miss India pageant and highlights the growing popularity of the pageant in recent years which was especially apparent following the success of a few contestants in winning the coveted Miss World and Miss Universe titles. With her focus on Miss India 2003 pageant, Dewey sheds light on the process through which standards of beauty are created, shaped, and reproduced in defining “what a Miss India should be” (23). This chapter also provides a closer look at the rigors of Miss India training program that transforms young women to beauty queens. Dewey emphasizes that the contestants of Miss India pageant make conscious efforts in creating beautiful bodies with a thorough awareness of cultural performance of beauty and gender identity that conforms to both international standards and established gender norms within Indian national culture.

In Chapter Two, Dewey points to the importance of the “power of gaze” and analyzes the influence of cultural performance of beauty as it shapes the lives of contestants. This chapter draws attention to the process in which beauty is cultivated and constantly performed by the contestants in their pursuit to construct and present the “self” as Miss India. Dewey explains the struggle of contestants by analyzing the simultaneous processes of the framing of success as an individual accomplishment and the promotion of predefined objective standards of beauty, which are internalized by the contestants. The chapter also illustrates how Miss India contestants undermine the culturally constructed models of idealized femininity and use the available social networks in achieving success and autonomy.

Chapter Three continues to discuss the power of the gaze, and looks at the Miss India pageant as a “Foucauldian total institution” (99), as being central to the creation of Miss India. As the contestants participate and navigate through the training program under the observation, control, and supervision of their chaperones, Dewey explores the ways these contestants negotiate identities and realize their agency. Discussing the connection between technological innovation and the growing consumption of beauty products in post-liberalization India, Dewey compellingly argues that...