Papers by Ayantika Chakraborty
Covid 19 : Anguish, Resilience and Determination , 2022
Goldenline Magazine, 2021
Ethnographica et Folkloristica carpathica.23, 2021
Chhau, a traditional masked dance form of West Bengal, was listed as an 'Intangible Cultural Heri... more Chhau, a traditional masked dance form of West Bengal, was listed as an 'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity' by UNESCO in 2010. In 2015, UNESCO in cooperation with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise of the Government of West Bengal developed a 'Rural Craft Hub' in Chorida village of Purulia district centring on Chhau. Consequently, tourism in the area was boosted both internationally and nationally. This phenomenon encouraged the commercialization of the traditional dance and craft form associated with Chhau as a result of heritagization. Unfortunately, the implication of the heritagization occurred in a flawed fashion which eventually led to folklorization and institutionalization while compromising their contextual significance. This paper explores how heritagization ensures the sustainability of an intangible tradition like Chhau while leading to folklorization and institutionalization of performance and craft. The paper also documents the history and ritualistic significance of Chhau to draw a lucid comparison between the traditional form and the form that results from folklorization. The paper establishes that heritagization, folklorization, and institutionalisation are intertwined with each other in the context of Chhau. From the interviews conducted with tourists and locals associated with Chhau, it is evident that any organization concerned with policy making should keep it in mind that an enormous distortion of craft and performance will be an obvious result when the target buyers in the market are alien to the traditional context. In such a scenario, the contextual significance of a craft form can be kept intact if the targeted buyers can be made aware of the contextual and functional relevance of the folkloric element that they are consuming in its modernized version.
Indian Folklore Contemplation on Art, Aesthetics And Culture, 2021
Tabu Ekalabya Journal Issue 26, Vol. 41, 2021
Social Action - A Quarterly Review of Social Trends (Journal) , 2020
Lok Bharati Publications , 2019
Bengal has a rich heritage of folk games played in different versions in various regions. Most of... more Bengal has a rich heritage of folk games played in different versions in various regions. Most of these games are played by children and have rhymes associated with those With the changing scenario of globalization affecting the country these games are at the verge of being obsolete from the cultural context. It is known that anything that does not serve the need and function is bound to be obsolete but such is not the case with the Folk games of Bengal. The paper will discuss the International Play Theory and criticize those. But the paper will focus mainly on how the Folk Games of Bengal reflects characteristics of different theories of International play. While establishing this, folk games like Hadudu, Kumir-Danga, Eladin- Beladin, Gaadi, Kusti, Gachhua etc. will be employed. Along with this, the paper will also concentrate on how William R. Bascom’s “Four Functions of Folklore” has been justified through these folk games of Bengal.
NETAJI SUBHAS OPEN UNIVERSITY
The intention of this paper will be underpinning the struggle of 'Hijra' community against the co... more The intention of this paper will be underpinning the struggle of 'Hijra' community against the colonial oppression in 19 th and 20 th century. Hijras who can be called unique because of their biological and psychological attributes have played a crucial role in building up resistance against the British colonizer but hardly got any honor as patriots. The paper will examine the initial approach of the British Government against the community and the misinterpretation of their biological as well as sexual orientation. The British Government enacted Criminal Tribe Act 1871 in North India and then extended it to Bengal presidency in 1876. Implication of this act hampered freedom and existence of Hijras in society as they were accounted as Criminal tribe. Through this paper it will be stated that how the Hijra community went through a fully fledged evolution in their professional and residential sphere to sustain their existence and how they landed in their contemporary vulnerable condition due to British criminalization of the group. As this paper is partially based on history of the community vivid literary textual references will be used as primary source of data and uncontrolled observation and interview will be taken as Secondary data. #British Colonialism #Bengal Presidency #Resistance #Criminal Tribe Act #Profession #Evolution
Cafedissenus, 2018
In the 21st century, when the entire world is heading towards the cultural convergence under the ... more In the 21st century, when the entire world is heading towards the cultural convergence under the expropriation of globalization and urbanization, the folklore as well as the regional culture and traditions are almost obsolete in many spheres of life. The bearers of many arts-cra forms, performances, beliefs, and traditions disown their own roots. The mass shows an ever thriving inclination towards urbanized digital media for amusement and entertainment purpose. Dundes argued in his essay, "Who are the folk?", that technology would eventually become the medium of study of folklore and will generate new forms of communication that would follow other folkloristic criteria. While stating this he said, "technology isn't stamping out folklore; rather it is becoming a vital factor in the transmission of folklore and it is providing an exciting source of inspiration for the generation of new folklore. The rise of the computer symbolizes the impact of technology upon the modern world. My point is that there is folklore of and about the computer." In this scenario, documentation of regional and folk genres have become mandatory to rescue them from being obsolete. But the process and mode of documentation vary. While a written documentation can only give an imaginary sketch of the genre, museum preservation can provide a still life evidence for a limited period of time as folklore materials in many cases are perishable, it is tough to document a performing art form as text or in museum whereas a digital archive is the staple mode of documentation and preservation as it gives a live view of the genre. But the question that I nurtured for a long time is what can be specied as archiving? Archives can be classied into many sectors depending on the materials of preservation like historical archive, folklore archive, art archive, lm archive, and many more. Likewise medium of presentation and preservation can classify archives; archives can also be judged on the basis of functions and importance of the preserved documents, etc.
Conference Presentations by Ayantika Chakraborty
International Conference on Gender Studies,Al Marif University College, Iraq, Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Bangladesh, Cape Comorin, 2020
Despite of having an enriched gender equal societal antiquity, India is presently experiencing a ... more Despite of having an enriched gender equal societal antiquity, India is presently experiencing a patriarchal wave. In disparity with the main land India, North East has always represented a more gender equal society. Therefore, this paper intends to focus on wedding customs of the North Eastern tribes to analyse how gender equality and philogyny is reflected though marriage rituals. The paper will cover the separation, liminality and reintegration phase-oriented rituals associated with marriage among selected tribes of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Moreover, the paper will look into marriage and kinship related kyriarchy that is widely prevalent in this so-called gender equal tribal societies in the form of bride price, marriage by serving etc. The research will rely on existing literature for interpreting the history and semi structural interview of tribal women for understanding their perception of gender equality in the sphere of marriage and kinship.
Cape Comorin Journal, Vol-2, Issue -6, Nov 2020
Gambhira, a folk theatre form of Maldah district of West Bengal is quite old and popular among th... more Gambhira, a folk theatre form of Maldah district of West Bengal is quite old and popular among the mass. The theatre has a prominent context as it is traditionally performed on the last day of the month of Chaitra in the pretext of Gajan, which is a folk festival associated with Shiva worshipping prevalent in West Bengal. The theatre form has its own distinctiveness as it has an episode of 'local news reading' which is rarely found in any other theatre form of Bengal. The local news section enlightens the viewers about the current happening of the locality which mostly media and news channels take as trivial incidents. Another interesting fact about the theatre is its secular approach. Though the theatre is primarily performed in a festival associated with Hindu God but the Muslim community of Bengal also performs in it. The theatre has characters which are Hindu but when Muslim community presents it the character alters immediately. So, due to its social significance even in the present scenario it is gaining enormous popularity which eventually results into the drift of the theatre from its original context to the induced context. The paper tries to trace how a dynamic folk theatre like Gambhira loses its originality for being popular. Moreover, the paper had taken the aid of Richard Schechner's Performance Theory and Theory of Contextualism to study the text, context and settings of Gambhira in the changing scenario. Ultimately while studying the transformation of Gambhira, the paper will contribute to the existing literature on fakelore and performance theory.
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Papers by Ayantika Chakraborty
Conference Presentations by Ayantika Chakraborty