Women Performers in Bengal and Bangladesh

NOTE EDITORE

Covering nearly 225 years, this volume tries to capture a broad spectrum of the situation of women performers from Gerasim Lebedeff's time (1795), who are considered to be the first performers in modern Bengali theatre, to today's time. The moot question is whether the role of women as performers evolved down the centuries. Whether this question will lead us to their subjugation to their male counterparts, producers, and directors has been explored here to give readers an understanding of when, where, by whom the politics began, and, by tracing the footprints, we have tried to understand if the politics has changed, or remains unchanged, or metamorphosed with regard to the woman's question in the performance discourse. We have explored, in this regard, how her body, mind, and sexuality interacted with and negotiated the phallocentric hierarchy. The essays included are on (i) Baiji/Tawaif culture in eastern and western Bengal; (ii) prostitute/'fallen' women/ patita, beshya performers; (iii) IPTA and the Naxalbari movement; (iv) group and commercial/professional theatre of Kolkata; (v) women's position in the theatre of Bangladesh; (vi) Cabaret (with an interview with Miss Shefali) (vii) Jatra; (viii) Baul tradition. (ix) Besides, there are chapters on English, Anglo-Indian, Jew, Nachni performers and the illustrious dancer Amala Shankar, and film-music-dance in general.

SOMMARIO

1 - Footprints of the Outliers: Female Performers in Colonial Eastern Bengal2 - The 'Fallen Women' of Culture: An Overview of Bengali Performers from the Dark Chambers of Bengal (1795-1930s)3 - Feminine Experiences in the Bengali Stage-From patita to bhadramahila, and to Today's New patita4 - Actresses in a Period of Transition (1947-1952): Connecting Actress Stories with Their Histories5 - Women in Search of a Play: Theatricality and Gender, From the IPTA to the Naxalbari Movement6 - Entangled in Performance: Women in Group and Commercial/Professional Theatre in Kolkata (1940s-2000s)7 - Labour, Infrastructure, Division of Labour and the Position of the New Generation Women Performers in Kolkata8 - Survival, Agency and the Politics of Compromise: The Contemporary Stage and Screen Actresses in Kolkata9 - Can Female Performers be Heard?: Her Stories in Theatre of Bangladesh (1950s-2010s)10 - Desire, Decadence and A "Dirty" Dancer: A Conversation with Miss Shefali11 - 'Extending' Uday Shankar's Dance Pedagogy?: Articulation of Agency in Amala Shankar's Work12 - Life of Jatra Actresses: Stories of Unending Struggle (1950s-2010s)13 - The Enigmatic World of Sadhansanginis14 - Bonds of Labour: Nachni Women as the Dancer in the Margin15 - Poverty to Sustenance: The Respectable/Shameful Journey of Women Performers of Sundarban

AUTORE

Manujendra Kundu is the Founding Editor of Springer's Book Series titled Performance Studies & Cultural Discourse in South Asia. The decade-long journalist, who worked for institutions like Anandabazar Patrika and Zee Media, did his PhD on the Third Theatre in Bengal. His book titled So Near, Yet So Far: Badal Sircar's Third Theatre was published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, in 2016. He is an author, editor, playwright, cultural commentator, and analyst who specializes in Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, Media Studies, Tagore Studies, and the intellectual history of India.

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

• Condizione: Nuovo
• ISBN: 9780192871510
• Dimensioni: 223 x 23.0 x 245 mm Ø 562 gr
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pagine Arabe: 354