Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia

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

‘Perera and Pathak weave together a number of ‘serious’ perspectives on humour. Inaugurating a novel method to excavate the nuances of cultural politics in South Asia, the book offers useful insights that both refine and deepen scholarship in South Asian studies. Edited by two prominent South Asianists, this book will profit all social scientists who are willing to undertake serious adventures beyond the predictable, formulaic and mainstream approaches. It is profoundly engrossing and enriching – a must read!’Ashok Acharya, Professor, Department of political science, University of Delhi, India‘Humour expands the field of politics at innocent moments, but to dissect the codes of subversive energy inherent in humour is extremely challenging. A pioneering effort at south Asian scale, here, the subversive politics, the hidden layers of the embedded past of the region and the cultural nuances of humour all come alive brilliantly. From Punch to stand-up comedy, and from Khattar Kaka’s philosophical forays to internet memes, the book offers an extraordinary canvas of humour and its subversive energy in South Asia.’ Sadan Jha, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Studies, Surat, Gujarat, India ‘In complete seriousness, this amazing work examines humour in social and political relations in diverse contexts! What makes the book different and iconic in some senses is the unravelling of laughter and humour in classical frames of analysis. It opens a new mode of understanding social reality: a lens which is often ignored because it is considered trivial or merely funny. By taking it seriously, anthropologists Perera and Pathak have opened up novel avenues for research in our efforts to unpack a troubled world disrupted by political instability, violence, anxiety, trauma, and much else.’Meenakshi Thapan, Former Professor of Sociology and Director, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India

• 1. Introduction: Cultural Politics of Humour in South Asia Part I: Humour in Literary and Visual Subversions 2. Colonial Cartoons: Punch and Vernacular Punch Politics of Humour in Colonial India 3. Khattar Kaka’s Subversive Hinduism: A Case of Literary-Cultural Politics of Humour Part II: Folkloric Worldviews: Laughter as Performed Narratives 4. Tales from Assam's Tea Gardens: When Humour becomes Resistance in Everyday Life-world of Labourers 5. Dramatic Haryanvi Humour: A Case of Subversion in Jakari and Ragni 6. ‘A Sri Lankan Arrives in Hell’: A Case of Laughing at ‘Sri Lanka’ and the ‘Sri Lankan’ in a Collection of Modern Folktales Part III: Mediated Messages for Laughing and Thinking 7. Humour, Criticality and the Performance of Anonymous Power: Internet Memes as Political Commentaries in Sinhala Society 8. Humorous Masculinity: Nepali Men in Mediated Indian Male Gaze 9. Politics of Performance and Performance of Politics: Analysing Stand-Up Comedy in the Indian Context 10. Humorous Public in Bangladesh: An Analytical Reading of Mediated Politics