A Case Study on the Heritage of Purulia Chhau Dance from India
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Intangible heritage and livelihoods: a case study on the heritage of Purulia chhau dance from India. Cardinale S. Doctor of Philosophy in Culture, Tourism and Development School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University August 2019 Table of Contents Table of Contents ________________________________________________________ 2 Abstract ________________________________________________________________ 6 Acknowledgements _______________________________________________________ 7 Preface _________________________________________________________________ 8 List of Figures ___________________________________________________________ 9 Glossary of Abbreviations ________________________________________________ 10 Chapter 1 ______________________________________________________________ 11 1 General Introduction and Rationale for this PhD ___________________________ 11 1.1 What Type of Cultural Heritage? _____________________________________________________ 12 1.2 Why an Investigation of Intangible Heritage in Livelihoods Development Context _______________ 13 1.3 The Case Study ___________________________________________________________________ 17 1.3.1 The Development Project _______________________________________________________ 18 1.3.2 The Origin of Purulia Chhau Dance ________________________________________________ 19 1.3.3 The Research Team and the Researcher as Project Partner _____________________________ 20 1.4 Purulia Political Context and Research Field Work in 2011 _________________________________ 22 1.5 Objectives of the Study and Research Questions _________________________________________ 24 1.6 Research Approach _______________________________________________________________ 26 1.7 Thesis Structure __________________________________________________________________ 28 Chapter 2 ______________________________________________________________ 31 2. Politics and Social Productions Around the AL Development Project __________ 31 2.1 From Purulia Town to the Villages ____________________________________________________ 32 2.1.1 Bamnia village ________________________________________________________________ 33 2.1.2 Tunta village and the landless fight _______________________________________________ 36 2.1.3 Towards North: Chelyama, SagarKa and ChaKra Village ________________________________ 38 2.1.4 Festivals, Celebrations and FolK Dances ____________________________________________ 41 2.2 Field Project Networking Actors in Purulia ______________________________________________ 45 2.2.1 The Ladder of Local Social Structures ______________________________________________ 47 2.2.2 Chhau Dance by Caste and Tribe _________________________________________________ 48 2.2.3 Balancing Distance: Outsiders, Insiders and Social Distance ____________________________ 51 2.2.4 Powerful Discourses, Social Distance and Points of Controversies________________________ 53 2.3 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________________ 55 Chapter 3 ______________________________________________________________ 57 3. Researching Intangible Heritage Practice: From Safeguarding to Development Networks ______________________________________________________________ 57 3.1 The Global Intangible Cultural Heritage Debate _________________________________________ 58 LacK of conversation in academic research ______________________________________________ 58 3.1.1 The Debate on Definition: Realist versus Constructed Heritage __________________________ 59 3.1.1.1 The Objectivist (or Realist) Paradigm ___________________________________________ 60 3.1.1.2 The Constructionist (or Social) Paradigm ________________________________________ 60 3.1.2 Intangible Heritage Recognition and Safeguarding ___________________________________ 62 3.1.2.1 Lists and Heritagisation of Intangible Heritage ___________________________________ 63 3.1.2.2 Museum Studies and Intangible Heritage Safeguarding ____________________________ 64 3.1.3 What Does Safeguarding Intangible Heritage Entail? __________________________________ 66 3.1.4 The Issue of Defining the Intangible Heritage Community’ _____________________________ 68 3.2 From Intangible Heritage Safeguarding to Development Actions ____________________________ 70 3.2.1 The Cultural Turn of Development ________________________________________________ 70 2 3.2.1.1 Investigating Culture in the Development Context ________________________________ 72 3.2.1.2 From Traditional Culture as Opposing Development, to Heritage as Driver of Development 73 3.2.2 Tourism and Development ______________________________________________________ 74 3.2.2.1 Does Intangible Heritage Tourism Exist as a Field of Inquiry? ________________________ 75 3.2.3 Intangible Heritage and the Cultural Commodification Debate __________________________ 76 3.2.4 LacK of research on Culture-Based Alternative Livelihood Strategies _____________________ 78 3.2.4.1 Sustainable Livelihood FrameworK and Development Project Investigation ____________ 81 3.3 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________________ 82 Chapter 4 ______________________________________________________________ 85 4. Research Methodology and Methods _____________________________________ 85 4.1 Research Path ___________________________________________________________________ 86 4.1.1 Me as a Researcher, Ethnographer and Project Partner _______________________________ 87 4.1.2 From WorKing Field Mission to Research FieldworK ___________________________________ 88 4.1.3 The Subject Positioning and the Questions _________________________________________ 90 4.2 Justification of Methodology Adopted _________________________________________________ 91 4.3 Playing the Role of the Ethnographer _________________________________________________ 93 4.4 The Analytical Framework of ANT Applied to Intangible Heritage Study ______________________ 94 4.5 Research Methods and Data ________________________________________________________ 97 4.6 Selection of Informants ____________________________________________________________ 99 4.7 Informal Conversation and Direct Observation _________________________________________ 100 4.8 Textual Analysis and Non-Human Agencies ____________________________________________ 102 4.9 Data Analysis and Interpretation: The Meaning Behind the Action __________________________ 102 4.9.1 Positionality and Reflexivity ____________________________________________________ 103 4.10 Limitations of This Study _________________________________________________________ 104 4.11 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________ 106 Chapter 5 _____________________________________________________________ 108 5. Drawing an Actor-Network Reconstruction of Intangible Heritage Based Development __________________________________________________________ 108 5.1 International Development Actions as Arena for Intangible Heritage ________________________ 109 5.1.1 Applying ANT to the Ontology of Development targeting Intangible Heritage _____________ 110 5.2 Project Phases and Modes of Ordering of Intangible Heritage _____________________________ 113 5.2.1 Opening the BlacK-box of Culture as Livelihood _____________________________________ 114 5.2.2 The Obligatory Passage Point and the Alignment of other Actors _______________________ 116 5.3 Conclusion _____________________________________________________________________ 118 Chapter 6 _____________________________________________________________ 121 6. Locating the Community of Intangible Heritage in the Development Action ___ 121 6.1 Where is the Community of the Intangible Heritage of Purulia chhau? ______________________ 122 6.2 The Issues of Defining the Intangible Heritage Community ________________________________ 124 6.2.1 Who MaKes the Intangible Heritage Community? ___________________________________ 125 6.3 Identifying the Actors of the AL Project Actor-Network ___________________________________ 126 6.3.1 The Social Enterprise (SE) and the Project Manager __________________________________ 128 6.3.2 The Dance and the Dancers as Beneficiaries of the Development Project _________________ 132 6.3.2.1 Features of the Dance _____________________________________________________ 132 6.3.2.2 The Dancers _____________________________________________________________ 133 6.3.3 The Research Team: Partners, Builders and Sharers of Knowledge ______________________ 135 6.3.4 The Project Associate: UNESCO, the Nomination File and the Inscription _________________ 137 6.3.4.1 Implementing a Vision: Intangible Heritage for Sustainable Development _____________ 140 6.4 Conclusion _____________________________________________________________________ 141 3 Chapter 7 _____________________________________________________________ 144 7. Intangible Heritage Livelihood Assets: Shaping the Lives and Livelihoods of Rural Artists _______________________________________________________________ 144 7.1 Rural Livelihoods Investigation and Intangible Heritage __________________________________ 146 7.2 Reconstructing the Rural Livelihood Patterns of Purulia __________________________________ 148 7.2.1 A lifetime as a Dancer: Sacredness and Symbolism of Doing Purulia Chhau _______________ 151 7.2.2 Purulia Chhau as a Societal Resource _____________________________________________ 156 7.2.3 Purulia Chhau Dance and the Household Economy __________________________________ 158 7.3 Intangible Heritage as a Sustainable Rural Livelihood ____________________________________ 161 7.4 Developing