EAN: 9789811311765

THEATRE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN COLONIAL INDIA...

This book critically engages with the study of theatre and performance in colonial India  and
relates it with colonial (and postcolonial) discussions on experience  freedom 
institution-building  modernity  nation subject not only as concepts but also as philosophical
queries. It opens up with the discourse around 'Indian theatre' that was started by the
orientalists in the late 18th century  and which continued till much later. The study
specifically focuses on the two major urban centres of colonial India: Bombay and Calcutta of
the 19th and early 20th centuries. It discusses different cultural practices in colonial India
including the initiation of 'Indian theatre' practices  which resulted in many forms of
colonial-native 'theatre' by the 19th century  the challenges to this dominant discourse from
the 'swadeshi jatra' (national jatra theatre) in Bengal  which drew upon earlier folk and
religious traditions and was used as a tool by the nationalist movement  and the Indian
People's Theatre Association (IPTA) that functioned from Bombay around the 1940s  which focused
on the creation of one national subject - that of the 'Indian'. The author contextualizes the
relevance of the concept of 'Indian theatre' in today's political atmosphere. She also
critically analyses the post-Independence Drama Seminar organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi
in 1956 and its relevance to the subsequent organization of 'Indian theatre'. Many theatre
personalities who emerged as faces of smaller theatre committees were part of the seminar which
envisioned a national cultural body.This book is an important contribution to the field and is
of interest to researchers and students of cultural studies  especially Theatre and Performance
Studies  and South Asian Studies.

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