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Re-Storying the Indigenous and the Popular Imaginary Vol III

by Prem Kumari Srivastava and Gitanjali Chawla

2017234 pages

About the book

This volume III takes forward the journey that began in Cultures of the Indigenous: India and Beyond (Volume 1) and De-territorialising Diversities: Literatures of the Indigenous and Marginalised (Volume 2). As a collection of shared narratives and lived experiences, it goes beyond mere explorations. The essays from popular art, cinema, literature, and culture, widen cracks beneath the surface, uncover spaces that need revelation, voice silences that need to be heard, and raise pertinent questions for which perhaps there are no ready answers. Some of them are about the thematics of representation in an age of postcoloniality and cosmopolitanism, others are regarding the local in the global, still others are about acceptance and rejection. The articles cover a vast expanse, both, temporal and spatial, all engaged in de-territorialising diversities of communities in India and beyond. They map the vast and varied spectrum of debates and dialogues emerging from the dialectical engagements of the indigenous communities: their constructions, representations, collaborations, and negotiations in the popular imagination.

The first two volumes in the series on De-territorialising Diversities: Cultures, Literatures and Languages of the Indigenous opened avenues for deeper reflection on the challenge to hegemonic systems which had, thus far, disregarded the richness and diversity in indigenous voices. This third volume on the interface between the indigenous and the popular imaginary is a timely critical intervention as it re-opens the dialogue on marga and desi traditions in the context of a techno savvy, neo- cosmopolitan society today.
- Malashri Lai
Professor, Department of English and Dean of Colleges,
Chairperson, Research Council, University of Delhi (Retd.)
Convener, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi
The trilogy comprising Cultures of the Indigenous: India and Beyond (Volume 1), De-territorialising Diversities: Literatures of the Indigenous and Marginalised (Volume 2) and Re- storying the Indigenous and the Popular Imaginary (Volume 3) is a window into the interstices of both cultural rootedness and mobility of oral traditions. It interrogates hegemonies and de-territorialises static cultural constructs. The anthologies probe the shifting and porous concentrics of margins and centres. Interdisciplinary in both letter and spirit, the series offer approaches from varied disciplines of anthropology, sociology, literature and cultural studies. The current offering opens up the debates even further as it looks at the interpolations of the Indigenous in the popular imaginary.
- Molly Kaushal
Professor, Performance Studies & Head, Janpada Sampada Division
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi