Poet and writer Meena Kandasamy centres her new novel, Fieldwork As a Sex Object (HarperCollins), around a London-based upper-caste Marxist student from India, who wakes up one morning to find that she is the subject of a deepfake video. Amrita Chaturvedi (Amy, in her London circles) is unapologetically sexually active, but the woman in the video is not her. Overnight, she becomes a trending hashtag and the target of relentless, vile online abuse.Amy tries to stem the hysteria with the help of her friends — a Dalit woman, Nirmala or Nimmi; a white woman, India; and India’s boyfriend, Child Soldier — while her mother keeps calling to check on her and navigates a prying family. A blistering exploration of misogyny, political extremism, and the Indian manosphere, the novel is written in Kandasamy’s characteristic style, pulling no punches and laced with humour. Edited excerpts from an interview:
The manosphere is a prominent theme in the book. What do you think makes the Indian manosphere particularly unique when compared to the West?
The Indian manosphere has an enormous amount of caste superiority built into its DNA. I have been subjected to a lot of online abuse for 14-15 years. It’s not just about the fact that I am a woman, or I’m outspoken, or what my politics are; it finally boils down to caste.
