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.

Autorentext

Jashodhara Sen Bio: Jashodhara Sen is a performance historian and practitioner specializing in South Asian theatre and performance. Jashodhara s research interests lie in the intersection of politics and the histories of liberatory performances across South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. Her performance practice, scholarship, and teaching are informed by the theories of postcolonialism, decoloniality, and subaltern studies, and her interdisciplinary research bridges cultural studies, ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, and postcolonial and subaltern studies. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Ecumenica, Asian Theatre Journal, New England Theatre Journal, Texas Theatre Journal, and the Political Theology Network, and her recent chapter on gender in contemporary Indian theatre entitled Crossing Borders and Transforming Gender Identities: Mahesh Dattani and Manjula Padmanabhan was published by Routledge in May 2024. Jashodhara is working on an ongoing research project, a digital storytelling platform for South Asian immigrant women titled Leaving Home, Finding Home, that redefines audience-participant relationships in alternative theatrical spaces. For this project, she has received the PAGE (Publicly Active Graduate Education) Award through Imagining America in 2017, the Engaged Arts and Humanities scholarship (2018-2019), and the Community-Based Research scholarship (2018-2019). Jashodhara currently teaches at the University of Florida's School of Theatre and Dance, USA. At the University of Florida, Dr. Sen was honored with the College of the Arts 2024 25 Best Teacher of the Year Award, recognizing her outstanding commitment to transformative and inclusive teaching.

Inhalt

Genesis through Legacy.- An Intercultural Dialogue.- Jatra's Nationalism: Encountering Symbolism.- The Shifting Nature of Jatra: Achieving Hybridity.- Intermediary Jatra.- Politics and Crisis of Contemporary Jatra.- A New Landscape.