Description
This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens’ anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies.
This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.
Table of Contents
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
