1st Edition

Culture and Politics in South Asia Performative Communication

Edited By Dev Nath Pathak, Sasanka Perera Copyright 2018
    318 Pages
    by Routledge India

    344 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    344 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    This volume looks at the politics of communication and culture in contemporary South Asia. It explores languages, signs and symbols reflective of current mythologies that underpin instances of performance in present-day India and its neighbouring countries. From gender performances and stage depictions to protest movements, folk songs to cinematic reconstructions and elections to war-torn regions, the chapters in the book bring the multiple voices embedded within the grand theatre of popular performance and the cultural landscape of the region to the fore.

    Breaking new ground, this work will prove useful to students and researchers in sociology and social anthropology, art and performance studies, political studies and international relations, communication and media studies and culture studies.

    List of Figures. Foreword. Preface: A Personal Note of Public Significance. Acknowledgements. Contributors 1. Introduction: Towards an Inconclusive Scheme of Performative Communication Dev Nath Pathak and Sasanka Perera  Unfolding the Discursive Terrain 2. Scripting Violence, Performing Terror: A Discursive Soliloquy Sasanka Perera 3. Performance of Personal and National Redefinition: Combining the Global and the National in Indian Media and Politics Stephen D. McDowell, Barbara Robinson, Azmat Rasul Implications of Performative Politics 4. Nationalistic Authorship and Resistance: Performative Politics in Post-war Northeastern Sri Lanka Rachel Seoighe 5. Teshro Lingis and Dalals: Gender Performance and the Question of Foreclosure in contemporary Political discourse of Nepal Sanjeev Uprety 6. Protests, Resistance and Violence: The Collective Performance of Everyday Images in Manipur Jayanta Vishnu Das 7. Civil society as a Site of Performed Identity: Exploring the Naga Context Rashi Bhargava 8. The Magic called Elections: Polls, Performance and Citizenship Amiya Kumar Das Myriad Mediums and Multiple Metaphors 9. Depicting Labour, Performing Labour: Working Women in Pranlal Patel’s Jyoti Sangh Series Lisa Trivedi 10. Performative Politics and The Iconography of Gita Press: A Critical Reading Ritu Sinha 11. Performative Implications of Genres: A Critical Rumination Chandrani Chatterjee 12. Bhojpuri Folksongs as Scripts of Conjugal Performance Asha Singh 13. Cinematic Construction of Other: Performing Pakistan in Hindi Cinema Vaishali Raghuvanshi and Sanjeev Kumar H. M. 14. Performing the Printed: In the Robe with the Meanings of Block Printing Ektaa Jain Socio-cultural Public sphere(s) 15. Performative Shahbag: Debating Culture and Politics of Youth in Contemporary Bangladesh Ratan Kumar Roy 16. Performing Democracy: On the Communicative Structure of News Television Abhijit Roy 17. Conflicting Moralities of Indian Nation: Reasoning with Vijay Tendulkar’s Theatre Dev N Pathak and Avanti Chhatre. Index

    Biography

    Dev Nath Pathak is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology at South Asian University, New Delhi, India.

    Sasanka Perera is Professor, Department of Sociology and Vice President at South Asian University, New Delhi, India.

    ‘The conjunction of performance and communication offers us the means to understand the relationship between text and context in all its complexity. This volume offers us insights into the mutual unsettling, shaping, giving meaning to performative communication as tradition, resistance, compliance, and as myriad instances of cultural politics. And in that process it provides startlingly new insights on both performance and communication. A powerful collection that breaches disciplinary boundaries and contributes to new thinking.’  

    Pradip Ninan Thomas, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia

    ‘Very broad in scope, this volume addresses issues of contemporary concern in the politics of culture across South Asia. It will be of interest to scholars across many fields of study and its comparative perspective will fill a critical gap in the literature on this subject.’

    Roma Chatterji, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, India