Doctoral thesis of Ankur Tamuli Phukan, submitted at Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
Author(s): Ankur Tamuli Phukan
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 272
Tags: Assam, Bihu, Colonial Assam, Postcolonial Assam, Doctoral Thesis
Acknowledgements i
Introduction
Historicizing Bihu 1
Reviewing the Literature 5
Questions of Method 9
Overview of Chapters 14
Chapter One
Scenes of the Obscene: The Lewd, the Rustic and Bihu 21
Elopements and Abductions 21
Nationalist Predicaments 39
Gaoliya: The Vulgar and the Authentic 53
Rurality Reconceptualized 64
Chapter Two
Nationalization of Affect: Bhaona, Bihu and Linguistic Nationalism 72
Bhava in a Polyglot World 73
Literarization of Bihu: 88
Assamese Bhava, Assamese Prema 102
Chapter Three
Organizing Celebrations: Labour, Leisure and Other Demands of Nationalism 118
Body Politics 118
New Festivals 128
A New Bihu 141
Chapter Four
Inventing Conflicting Traditions: Bihu and the Early Postcolonial Romances 152
The Voice of the Nation-State 154
The Kamrupi Music School 166
Agriculture, Labour and the Left Nationalist Moment of Bihu 184
Chapter Five
Powers of Spectacularity: Bihu in the Times of Insurgency and After 192
Spectacularity and Disciplinarity: The Assam Movement and Bihu 193
Donation, Hindi Imperialism and Bihu: The ULFA Years 211
The Novelized Ethnography 218
The ‘Tribal’ Bihu 223
Bihu on the Screen 236
Conclusion 247
Glossary 255
Bibliography 256
