Performance Studies & Cultural Discourse in South Asia – Serie

This book offers a critical lens on understanding jatra as a historical-cultural performance and reveals its impact on class and gender politics across India. It challenges colonial authority and navigates complex political nuances across cultures. Through exclusive interviews, the book articulates how jatra, as a performance form, has been marginalized and "othered" due to entrenched class and gender-based hegemony. It explores the fusion of multiple “folk” forms and their ideals within jatra, resulting in its hybrid identity. Each chapter examines the historical exchanges between performance and cultural practices. It sheds light on how class and gender identities intertwined with “folk” forms and street performances have influenced contemporary jatra's hybrid identity formation. It is an intriguing book for scholars in Theatre and Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, South Asian Studies, Gender and Queer Studies, and Postcolonial Studies. Also, it offers valuable insights for scholars in modern Indian languages and those exploring “folk” performances in contemporary India. It is a valuable resource for theatre and literary theory classrooms, graduate seminars, and scholars examining the challenges of translating culturally specific texts.

This book explores the processes of disfiguration in the 'classical' and 'ritual-healing' performances of India, with a particular focus on the rich and diverse performance traditions of Kerala.

The book thus furnishes a comprehensive account of the oral traditions, beliefs, cultural practices, language and literature, folklore, songs, foods, healing traditions, holidays, etc., of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, along with their diversity and issues.

This is the first book which attempts to introduce Dutt’s theatre comprehensively to an international readership.The book looks briefly at Dutt’s life, the impact of his politics on his theatre, the art of his characterization, his dramaturgy and stage technique, and the legacy of his work in theatre.

This is the first book which attempts to introduce Dutt’s theatre comprehensively to an international readership.The book looks briefly at Dutt’s life, the impact of his politics on his theatre, the art of his characterization, his dramaturgy and stage technique, and the legacy of his work in theatre.

This book provides a critical understanding of dance studies in India, bringing together various embodied practices identified loosely as dance. It suggests an alternative reading of the history of patronage, policies, and institutionalized understanding of categories such as classical, folk, modern, popular, and Bollywood that hierarchizes some dances as 'more' dance than others. It is of great interest to scholars looking at performing arts such as dance as a tool for identity assertions. It offers diverse possibilities of understanding dance through its inherent sociopolitical possibilities as a participatory or presentational tool for communication. The multidisciplinary approach brings together perspectives from critical dance studies, anthropology, history, and gender studies to connect embodied archives of different communities to create an intersectional methodology of studying dance in India as a powerful but marginal expressive art practice. Accessible at multiple levels, thecontent is relevant for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers across dance, dance education, theatre, and performance studies.