Ulrike Schröder
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812295
- eISBN:
- 9780199919390
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812295.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter deals with the Indian ritual of Hook-swinging as an example for the negotiation of ritual space in the colonial society of South India during the 19th century and after. “Ritual” is ...
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This chapter deals with the Indian ritual of Hook-swinging as an example for the negotiation of ritual space in the colonial society of South India during the 19th century and after. “Ritual” is considered here as a discursive formation that provides a dynamic resource for the negotiation of social, cultural and religious forms of identity for various groups within a society. The debate about Hook-swinging and its prohibition is analyzed in two ways. First, it is asked how colonial policy determines the field of social and religious discourse about rituals. This had a massive impact on the performance and contents of the ritual as well as on the participants and the socio-religious setting of Hook-swinging. But, second, it can be shown that within this transformation the ritual itself serves as a space of subaltern agency and resistance to colonial and social suppression within the colonial society.Less
This chapter deals with the Indian ritual of Hook-swinging as an example for the negotiation of ritual space in the colonial society of South India during the 19th century and after. “Ritual” is considered here as a discursive formation that provides a dynamic resource for the negotiation of social, cultural and religious forms of identity for various groups within a society. The debate about Hook-swinging and its prohibition is analyzed in two ways. First, it is asked how colonial policy determines the field of social and religious discourse about rituals. This had a massive impact on the performance and contents of the ritual as well as on the participants and the socio-religious setting of Hook-swinging. But, second, it can be shown that within this transformation the ritual itself serves as a space of subaltern agency and resistance to colonial and social suppression within the colonial society.
Esha Niyogi De
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198072553
- eISBN:
- 9780199080915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198072553.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Women's Literature
This introductory chapter examines the postcolonial and subaltern theoretical models of agency, which are founded on a position against Enlightenment individualism. The chapter studies a few Western ...
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This introductory chapter examines the postcolonial and subaltern theoretical models of agency, which are founded on a position against Enlightenment individualism. The chapter studies a few Western intellectual premises of this position and attempts to pinpoint where the basic position can be considered inadequate for modern Bengali and Anglophone texts. Most of this chapter concentrates on a definition of a critical apparatus. Such apparatus is predominantly used for reading how the individual autonomy and transhistorical agency elaborate on material grounds simultaneously. Furthermore, the chapter brings to light sections on the feminist transcultural individuation, anti-enlightenment critique, postcolonial theories, gendered indigenous engagement, and responsible evaluation.Less
This introductory chapter examines the postcolonial and subaltern theoretical models of agency, which are founded on a position against Enlightenment individualism. The chapter studies a few Western intellectual premises of this position and attempts to pinpoint where the basic position can be considered inadequate for modern Bengali and Anglophone texts. Most of this chapter concentrates on a definition of a critical apparatus. Such apparatus is predominantly used for reading how the individual autonomy and transhistorical agency elaborate on material grounds simultaneously. Furthermore, the chapter brings to light sections on the feminist transcultural individuation, anti-enlightenment critique, postcolonial theories, gendered indigenous engagement, and responsible evaluation.
