Performing Caste: the Ban on Bar Dancing in Mumbai
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This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and duplication or sale of all or part is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for research, private study, criticism/review or educational purposes. Electronic or print copies are for your own personal, non- commercial use and shall not be passed to any other individual. No quotation may be published without proper acknowledgement. For any other use, or to quote extensively from the work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder/s. 1 Performing caste: the ban on bar dancing in Mumbai Sameena Dalwai PhD in Law October 2012 Keele University 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the ban on bar dancing in Mumbai and Maharashtra as an outcome of politics of gender and caste in a globalising India. By redeploying the historical erotic dancing in a globalising India, the dance bars emerged as the new market providing Bollywood-type entertainment with dance, music, and hospitality to the new consumer class. The Dance Bar market offered employment opportunities to poor women to earn a livelihood and proved to be an exceptional market where female labour was paid very well. By deploying their caste capital, i.e., the hereditary skills of dancing, drama and use of sexuality, the traditional dancing women occupied and ruled the dance bar market. To this extent, the bargirls may be viewed as a ‘performing caste’ continuing their hereditary caste occupations in a globalising capitalist market. However, while their relationship to the customer was defined through the market and they earned money, status and power through their occupation, the bargirls challenged, transformed and redefined the caste hierarchy by the use of ‘caste capital’. The demand for the ban on dancing in the bars came up through cultural discourses of protection of youth, family, Indian culture and the dignity of women, in which bargirls were projected as bad women earning too much money by cheating their customers and encouraging illegal activities in the dance bars. The ban diminished the freedom, earning potential and unique identity of the bar dancers, pushing them back into their original caste/class positionality. The legal ban can be studied as the effect of politics of caste and gender in Maharashtra intervening into the global market. 3 DECLARATION 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my supervisors first, who made a complementary team. Dr. Jane Krishnadas recognised the potential of my project, and offered intellectual and emotional support to me for completing it. The discussions in her backyard with her very special kids around are specially appreciated. Dr. Ruth Fletcher is thanked for her insistence on perfection; I marvelled at how she helped me see the direction and points from my very rough drafts. The project was weaved together under her expert hand. I must thank Brendan Donegan for reading almost all of my PhD and offering his expertise gained from Anthropological scholarship, Anna Morcom for adding the vital angle of musicology and Akhil Katyal for interesting additions on caste/class in globalisation. In Mumbai, I thank Adv. Mihir Desai, a legal senior and a friend, for enhancing my legal understanding and Dr. Sandhya Mhatre for her loving research assistance, and almost taking upon herself to submit the thesis at the end. Discussions with Bhushan Korgaonkar on the Lavani performers were insightful and Ketaki Rege, the lawyer and the feminist, always offered intuitive comments. The field work was only possible because of the activists in Mumbai who gave time and information generously. Days in discussions and nights in visiting bars with Varsha Kale shaped my understating of the issue at hand. Prabha Desai and Dr. Ashish Bhosale offered access to their organisation and eased my way into the locality of bargirls. The NGO workers took me along on their rounds, introduced me to their friends and gave me time for 5 interviews. The bargirls that I spoke to, the managers and bar staff, politicians and people from various NGOs have all made it possible for me to complete this research. I could not have survived the four years of PhD without the companionship of other lonely souls. I thank my friends at Keele who have achieved an internationalisation of my personality. My colleagues at the research institute and dear friends Kostas Jemenis, Wei Wei Cao, Gavin Bailey, Phil Burton, Maleeha Cheema, Nazaria Osman, John, Ines Brewer, Roxana Khanum, Kumari, and Anish Kumar, who have enriched my life in varied ways; through walks, talks, drives and cookouts. I am grateful to my two mentors at Keele: Prof. Pnina Werbner watched over me ever since I stepped into Keele and offered her time for academic discussions as well as theatre outings. Dania Thomas took me under her wings, whisking me away to the local pub and eateries, advising me on research and offering a typical Bombay friendship. I appreciate the getaways that my friends in the UK and abroad provided: In London Ritesh Tendulkar, Sachin Zad, Amer Siddiqi, Lennart Poulson, Anuradha Mathur, Aditee Naik, plus Kinnu in Birmingham, Arvinda in Leeds, and Vaheeda apa in Kent. The international visits to friends sprinkled spice into an otherwise monotonous time, so thanks to Ana for Spain, Charlotte and Jin for Germany, Honey Tan for Malaysia and Anil for Goa. Specially appreciated is the month with the Narvekars – Satyajit, Yamini and Mahira – in Amsterdam where I finished my first full draft. Camille Narayan, Pavitra Sundar, and Asad Farukh have been present in my life across continents, more so through weddings and visits. 6 Living away from family has made me appreciate it more. The extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins – Arifa phupu, Sadru kaka, Khaild dada, Nasir Bhai, and of friends, Ramu Ramnathan, Nihal Satpute, Preeti Joshi and others in Mumbai – have kept me on the radar and have kept me a part of them while I was physically absent. Chetna Gala’s regular phone calls with news at the Manndeshi Bank and discussions on the state of the world kept me rooted into the situation on home shores. I wish to commemorate my grandma, Nalini Pandit, the author, thinker and inspiration, for a constant reminder of what one can be with perseverance. Finally, I thank my family for being what they are – brilliant, boisterous, generous and omnipresent. My father, Husain Dalwai, with his gift of good humour in odd situations, political gossip and jokes on the phone; my brother Sumedh with his genius and over analysis of everything under the Sun are the best men I know. Lastly, I salute my mother – my guide, philosopher and friend – for appearing by my side every time I stumbled. She has been reading my drafts and my mind, and nudging me towards improvements in both. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 DECLARATION .................................................................................................................................................. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.1. THE STORY OF THE DANCE BARS BAN ......................................................................................................... 10 1.2 CASTE AND HEGEMONY .................................................................................................................................... 15 1.3 DANCE BARS AS THE AFTERLIFE OF CASTE ............................................................................................................ 26 1.4. MORAL PANIC ............................................................................................................................................... 30 1.4.1 Globalisation, the moment of panic ................................................................................................. 31 o Mumbai and Maharashtra during Globalisation ............................................................................... 36 1.4.2 Bargirls, the Folk Devils ...................................................................................................................... 38 1.4.3 Crisis Needed by the State Actors ....................................................................................................... 43 1.5 THESIS OUTLINE ......................................................................................................................................... 47 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 51 2.1 THE CASTE FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................................. 52 2.1.1. What is the Caste system? ................................................................................................................ 52 2.1.2. Caste and education .......................................................................................................................... 53 2.1.3. Interaction of caste and class ............................................................................................................ 56 2.1.5. Caste in Islamic communities