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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Playing Nativized Bodies: Performative Body as Disjuncture In the Indian Liberalization Regime A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies by Ameet Parameswaran 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Playing Nativized Bodies: Performative Body as Disjuncture In the Indian Liberalization Regime by Ameet Parameswaran Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Sue-Ellen Case, Chair This dissertation takes the performative body as the site of analysis to critically interrogate the contradictions in the space-time of India in the liberalization regime. By the term liberalization regime, I refer to the unprecedented changes that have occurred in India starting from the late 1980s: the deregulation and opening up of the economy with the signing of “Structural Adjustment Programs,” privatization initiatives, the rise of transnational media resulting in the proliferation of consumerist images in the public space, and the “free” flow of information across national borders. These changes have transformed India from a nation driven by state developmentalism to a nation organized by the “free market.” Throughout the dissertation, I analyze diverse cultural objects that emerge from and embody this transformation, such as the popular performance form of mimicking called “Mimics Parade,” the photo- performance project of the artists Clare Arni and N. Pushpamala, ad-films of Multi-National Companies on national television channels, and an Indo-Japanese theatrical production titled Sahyante Makan: the Elephant Project . ii I read these cultural objects as instances of the performative use of the trope that I have termed “nativized bodies.” I use the term nativized bodies to draw attention to a representational schema that, rather than invoking an already found authentic native or instituting a modern bourgeois humanist subject completely negating the specificity of the native, self-referentially highlights the complex intersections in the construction of native as recognizable bodies. I posit that the nativized bodies is a seminal way of illustrating the contradictions in the liberalization regime, as the trope foregrounds and brings into tension the “body” as constituted at the intersection of the theorizations of corporeality and deployment of “body” in state-practices, the nationalist discourse, and commodification. iii The dissertation of Ameet Parameswaran is approved. Susan Leigh Foster Janet O’Shea Carol Sorgenfrei Sue-Ellen Case, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Embodying Consumption Regime: Mimics Parade and the Relationality of the “Machinic” Body………………………………………………………………………………20 Chapter 2: Body, Visuality, and Gendered Space of Contemporary Capitalism: Play of “Gestures” in Native Women of South India: Manners and Customs …………………………61 Chapter 3: Superflat Aesthetic and Brand-experience: Performance of Happydent White Palace Ad-film in/as “Brand-India”………………………………………………………………......109 Chapter 4: To be, or not to be an Elephant…That’s not the Question: Zooesis and “Becoming with” in India…………………………………………………………………………………153 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….....204 v Acknowledgements There are many people without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. I am extremely grateful to my dissertation committee members for their sharp readership and mentoring. From the most basic aspects such as grammar corrections, pointing out how critical terminology and description is when one writes about performance, and opening out theoretical perspectives of analyzing cultural objects, Susan Leigh Foster has played an instrumental role in the completion of this work. I acknowledge with deep gratitude the warmth and the rigor with which she guided me through the entire process. I cherish the hours spent in discussions with Janet O’Shea. Right from the formulation of the project, she has patiently listened to my not-yet- formed ideas, always pointing directions to move forward. Without her incisive comments on my writing, always making me directly tackle the political issues, and her constant stress of the need to ground my random flights in theoretical abstraction, this work would not have been intelligible. Through her courses, Carol Sorgenfrei opened out the central questions that I have interrogated through the dissertation, and her eyes for even the smallest details in writing has been critical. It might be futile to even try to record the significance of opportunities for learning provided to me by the UCLA system. Nonetheless, I will mention some. I offer my gratitude to the Shelley Salamensky who made my life in the program wonderful, contributing to my theoretical perspective as well as highlighting the most quirky and interesting aspects of the space of LA. I also thank Marcela Fuentes, Sonali Pahwa, and Robert Chi with whom I have taken courses with. The critical insights that I gained from interactions with them, and the papers that I wrote for them have directly transformed into chapters of this dissertation. I also offer my deep gratitude to the organizers and participants of the MRG Student Retreat, University of vi California, Santa Barbara, 2010. The close reading of my paper and critical questions raised by the facilitators Lynette Hunter, Leo Cabranes-Grant, Shannon Rose Riley, and Jon Rossini, and the wonderful graduate student participants has been critical. I have gained tremendously from the talks and interactions organized by the Center for India and South-Asia in UCLA, bringing together students and scholars from diverse fields in humanities. I specially thank Poornima Mankekar for discussing my project and raising critical questions. I thank the brilliant staff of the Theater Department Levy Natasha, Donia Farmer, Gwendolyn Brown, Myron Murakami, Bibi Dhillon, Annette Lee, who made my academic life smooth by being prompt, considerate, and always smiling as they guided me through the web of administrative processes. It is with deep gratitude that I recognize the financial funding and grants for conference registration and travel that I have received over the four years for my education here. I would like to mention especially the Chancellor’s Prize (2008-2010), James Pendleton Prize (2011), and the grants provided to me by my home department, Department of Theater, UCLA for the American Society of Theater Research Conferences in Seattle (2010) and in Montreal (2011). The discussions in these conferences have been fundamental in conceiving this project. Outside the UCLA system, Soumyabrata Choudhury, H. S. Shivaprakash, Samik Bandyopadhyay, Urmimala Sarkar, my teachers, have always been an inspiration and support, constantly asking me challenging questions. A special mention is due for the one and only Bishnupriya Dutt, who has been instrumental in my choosing the discipline, and for always supporting and guiding me with warmth and criticality that only she possesses. I cherish the friendship and critical inputs from my peers Lindsay Brandon Hunter, Michael Najjar, Lisa Sloan, Fan-Ting, Bill Hutson, Sheila Malone, Andretta, Yvette Martinez, Areum Jong, Gwyneth vii Shanks, and Paulo Lima. And special thanks for the cheerful and warm friends, Christie Nittrouer, Andrew Rosenblatt (and their wonderful Magnum), David Gorshein, Linzi Juliano (and her wonderful cats, Portman and Fischer who had to bear me in their space in my final year of writing!), Sam Anderson, Tony Fitzgerland, Sarah Ellis, Courtney Ryan, Farhang Pernoon, and Jaideep Sahai, who while sharing with me the passion for academics, also made LA the most wonderful and fun place to be. Prabhat, Yamini, and Sanku, my only acquaintances in LA when I first came, have been a tremendous help in making me settle into the city, being always ready with fun and good food. No words can express my gratitude to Sumangala Damodaran (who also took time to edit this dissertation), Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Sujith Shanker, Neelima Jeychandran, Rahul Dev, Rishika Mehrishi, Preema John, Aarathi P.M, Sreejith, Rachel Varghese who have always welcomed me with open arms, hearts, and purses (!). My parents, who have only seen me as a student of accounting, if alive, would have been extremely happy to see my transformation resulting in this dissertation. My mother’s passion for poetry and fiction, and my father’s spirit of loving the small things in life and finding humor even in the darkest hour, influence my thinking. This dissertation, yet, ultimately is the product of one teacher and mentor, the most fabulous, Sue-Ellen Case. From the first time I met her for lunch, when after discussion, she magically found for me a laptop as she realized I did not have one, Sue-Ellen Case has been the most amazing and unimaginably perfect mentor. The level of commitment and concern for my learning she has shown is unmatched, something I did not even imagine in my wildest dreams before I came to UCLA. She has taught me the basics of analyzing performance, asking me to continuously engage in rigorous theoretical questioning without losing sight of specificities, and has opened out what Performance Studies as a discipline means. No words can express my viii gratitude for her guidance, her unbelievable patience in reading through my unfathomable first drafts, editing them, and showing directions