Culture and Power in Banaras: Community, Performance, and Environment, 1800-1980Sandria B. Freitag This collection of ten essays on Banaras, one of the largest urban centers in India's eastern Gangetic plain, is united by a common interest in examining everyday activities in order to learn about shared values and motivations, processes of identity formation, and self-conscious constructions of community. Part One examines the performance genres that have drawn audiences from throughout the city. Part Two focuses on the areas of neighborhood, leisure, and work, examining the processes by which urban residents use a sense of identity to organize their activities and bring meaning to their lives. Part Three links these experiences within Banaras to a series of "larger worlds," ranging from language movements and political protests to disease ecology and regional environmental impact. Banaras is a complex world, with differences in religion, caste, class, language, and popular culture; the diversity of these essays embraces those differences. It is a collection that will interest scholars and students of South Asia as well as anyone interested in comparative discussions of popular culture. This collection of ten essays on Banaras, one of the largest urban centers in India's eastern Gangetic plain, is united by a common interest in examining everyday activities in order to learn about shared values and motivations, processes of identity formation, and self-conscious constructions of community. Part One examines the performance genres that have drawn audiences from throughout the city. Part Two focuses on the areas of neighborhood, leisure, and work, examining the processes by which urban residents use a sense of identity to organize their activities and bring meaning to their lives. Part Three links these experiences within Banaras to a series of "larger worlds," ranging from language movements and political protests to disease ecology and regional environmental impact. Banaras is a complex world, with differences in religion, caste, class, language, and popular culture; the diversity of these essays embraces those differences. It is a collection that will interest scholars and students of South Asia as well as anyone interested in comparative discussions of popular culture. |
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Ahir akhāṛā Allahabad Ansari artisans audience Awadh Baba Banarsi Bayly Bharat Jiwan Bharatendu Bharatendu Harishchandra Bhojpuri Bhumihar Bihar Bīr birahā Brahmins Braj Braj Bhasha British caste ceremonial chapter classes collective activities crowd deities Delhi discussion disease district drama eastern U.P. Educ eighteenth elite epic epidemic essays festival folk music genre Ghat groups Hindi and Urdu identity important included Kaithi Kanpur kathā Kayasths Khari Boli Kumar language lower-class Maharaja Mānas Marathas merchant Mishra Mughal muḥalla Muslim Nagari naras neighborhood Nevill nineteenth century north India organization Parsi Parsi theatre patronage percent performance Persian plays political popular culture population protest Provinces public arena Raja Ramcharitmanas Rāmlīlā Ramnagar region religious residents role Sabha Sāngīts Sanskrit script shrines shringārs significant singers Singh smallpox social songs structure style suggests Sväng symbolic tazia temple tion tradition Tulsidas urban Urdu vernacular village weavers worship Yadav