Call for Book Chapters (Peter Lang series)
Call for Book Chapters
(Peter Lang International Academic Publishers)
Call for Chapters for the anthology Performing Dalits: Theatre of the Marginalized Communities of Bengal
As a medium of expression, theatre has the potential to challenge entrenched power structures. There is no denying the fact that the politics of silencing and excluding the cultural practices of marginalized communities by the elite Bengali bhadralok during the colonial period was pervasive and deliberate. In the guise of promoting cognition, erudition, and sophistication, the subaltern voices were systematically ignored and suppressed. The Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) (1943) marked a significant collective effort by the educated Bengali elite to engage with the cultural expressions of the marginalized and underprivileged, aiming to use these as instruments of social change. However, the IPTA ultimately faltered, as it gradually alienated the very communities that were its primary source of resilience and creative vitality (Kundu, 2016). Consequently, much of mainstream Bengali theatre instead conforms to the Brahmanical hegemonic order which privileges upper-caste narratives and marginalizes voices from Dalits, Adivasis, and other oppressed communities.
Oral histories become quite important when recording their perceptions or experiences. Oral testimonies provide a window into the lives of those without a documented history or a sense of rootedness, which is particularly useful when research focuses on those who are marginalized and on the periphery of the dominant discourse. The centrality of performance, particularly dance, and singing, in the oldest forms of Adivasi culture is demonstrated by both historical and ethnographic research. Targeting the village’s audiences, the performances had strong local overtones and were closely tied to the village’s social fabric.
The past serves as the constitutive factor in the Dalits’ identity-building effort. Sometimes conveniently forgotten, and frequently selectively remembered, this history is a disputed space. Because historical facts may be dependent on present-day imaginations, history may no longer be considered fundamentally factual (Seneviratne, 1997: 5). Historical narratives are adorned and reinterpreted from the viewpoint of current ethnic and other group identities, goals, values, and passions. The limits of history are being pushed beyond the empirical-analytical to encompass the myths and legends of the subaltern immigrant communities as a result of the expanding democratization process and the political necessity to include marginalized and minority communities.
In the field of decolonial scholarship within theatre and performance studies, it is quite important to interrogate and challenge the dominant discourses and practices, or ‘the master narratives’ and continue decolonizing the Euro-American-centrism that dominates the field of theatre and performance studies. However, to foster stronger moral arguments and engage in truly emancipatory dialogues, it is essential to critically question their privileges and positionalities associated with local knowledge and customs. Otherwise, caste and class issues are avoided, as is the deeper feeling of cultural inequities in the guise of nationalism and nativism, by the hollow cultural discourse of decolonization.
Early writings and other alternative sources, such as oral histories, are important historical voices that can significantly be utilized to recreate Bengal’s regional history. These sources, often marginalized in mainstream historiography, offer unique insights into the lived experiences, cultural practices, and socio-political realities of communities that have been systematically excluded from dominant historical accounts. Oral histories, in particular, serve as critical repositories of memory and tradition, preserving perspectives that might otherwise be lost to time. When approached with scholarly diligence and critical sensitivity, these sources can illuminate the diverse and often overlooked narratives that constitute the region’s rich historical tapestry. This approach not only enriches the reconstruction of Bengal’s regional history but also aligns with broader efforts to decolonize historical research and foreground subaltern voices.
This project delves deep into the theatrical performances by the marginalised communities of Bengal, especially of pre-colonial and pre-Independent eras which would include a substantial amount of historical truths while integrating the cultural artifacts of these regions. To prevent them from dying out, it is imperative to document and translate various regional Dalit and Adivasi oral and folk performance traditions into English. Such efforts not only safeguard these traditions from the risk of extinction but also facilitate their circulation within global academic and cultural discourses, thereby amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.
Given the fact that the translations of Dalit and Tribal literature from South Asian languages into English have consistently received critical attention in recent years, this volume will therefore focus on bringing out marginalised and less visible literary/cultural texts related to various performance traditions of Bengal. Moreover, it tends to explore the issues of marginality concerning caste, class, race, ethnicity, gender, and language, even if its main goal is to highlight the under-represented texts and performance traditions of diverse regions of Bengal. By doing so, it opens possibilities for exploring socio-cultural politics and the role of translation in bridging the cultural and linguistic aspects of those performances.
In light of the aforementioned discussions, we invite potential chapter contributions that critically engage with the following thematic areas, though not limited to:
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Theatre of the Oppressed
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Dalit Aesthetics and Performance
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Protest, Activism, and Performance
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Gender Representation and Performance
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Translation and Resistance of the Performance
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Alternative History, Reconstruction, and Performance
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Folktales, Myth, and Oral Performance
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Performance and the Marginalised Socio-Cultural Fabric
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Caste/Class and Performance
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Marginalized languages and performance
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Space and Marginalized Performance
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Decoloniality and Performance
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Dalit Refugees and Performance
Each chapter should be no longer than 8000 words, including the endnotes and references.
Volume Editors: Bidisha Pal, Assistant Professor, SRM University AP and Biraj Biswas, Research Scholar, SRM University AP
Important Dates:
Last Date of Submission of Abstract (300-350 words): 15th April 2025
Decision on Submission of the Abstracts: 10th May 2025
Last Date for Submission of Full Manuscripts (7000-8000 words): 15th August 2025
Submission Guidelines
Font – Times New Roman, Font Size across the manuscript – 12, Spacing – 1.5 lines
Use Chicago 16th edition for both in-text citations and references.
All submissions will be double-blind peer-reviewed by the Editors and the Publication House.
Selected chapters will be published by Peter Lang under the series Theatre of the Marginalised: Dalit and Adivasi Performance Traditions in South Asia.
The chapters (abstracts/full-texts) should be submitted to the at theatremargin@gmail.com
For any further queries contact the bdshpaul6@gmail.com and birajbiswas50784@gmail.com