The Poet’s Song: ‘Folk’ and its Cultural Politics in South Asia

ISBN-13: 9780367903138 / Angielski

Priyanka Basu

Opis

This book explores the ‘folk’ performance genre of Kobigaan, a dialogic song-theatre form in which performers verse-duel, in contemporary West Bengal in India and Bangladesh.

Thought to be a nearly extinct form, the book shows how the genre is still prevalent in the region. The author shows how like many other ‘folk’ practices in South and South-East Asia, the content and format of this genre has undergone vital changes thus raising questions of authenticity, patronage and cultural politics. She captures live performances of Kobigaan through ethnographies spread across borders — from village rituals to urban festivals, and from Bengali cinema to television and new media. While understanding Kobigaan from the practitioners’ points-of-view, this book also explores the crucial issues of gender, marginalization and representation that is true of any performance genre. Drawing on case studies, it underlines the issues of artistic agency, empowerment, cultural labour and heritage, ritual, authenticity, creative industries, media, gender, and identity politics.

Part of the ‘South Asian History and Culture’ series, this book is a major intervention in South Asian folklore and performance studies. It also expands into the larger disciplines of literature, social and cultural movements in South Asia, ethnomusicology and the politics of performance.

Spis treści

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Note on Translation and Transliteration

1. Nomenclatures
2. The Travelling Archive
3. Afterlives
4. Past Continuous
5. Temporary Exhibits
6. Writing Sisterhood
7. Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

O autorze

Priyanka Basu is a Lecturer in Performing Arts in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King’s College London, United Kingdom.