SAC presents: Ian Wilson

Approaching Local History through Performance: Recasting the Tradition of Jikadi-Bhajan to the Recent History of Bharatpur In this paper, Ian will introduce and consider a presentation of the history of Bharatpur state by a performer through a piece based upon the genre of the jikadi-bhajan. This genre is a style of competitive performance draws upon prose, poetry, and singing to address the stories and characters of the Mahabharata, however, in the mid-twentieth century, with the rise of postcolonial politics, this genre was adapted to represent local history and connected to political campaigning. Currently the piece, while still linked to politics, is understood in one village as a dominant and recognized mode of presenting the past.