Performing Heroic Laziness
Historical consciousness and everyday life in the Thalua Club of Banaras
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21687474 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bhargav Rani (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 14-25 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-19 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Performance Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1352-8165 • E-ISSN: 1469-9990 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13528165.2023.2295704 |
| OpenAlex | W4394956294 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
This paper theorizes a concept of performance of everyday life at the intersection of performance theory, history and philosophy to posit the everyday as a world-historical stage on which subjects enact forms of historical consciousness. It takes as its empirical ground two historical iterations of a social club known as Thalua Club (Idlers' Club) that took shape in Banaras (Varanasi) – an ancient commercial and Hindu pilgrimage centre and currently the nerve centre of Hindu nationalist politics in India. The idea of a Thalua Club first finds expression in a satirical work from 1928 of the same name, in which the author, Gulab Rai – through the character of 'Devotee of Laziness' (Alasya-bhakt) – affirms the performance of 'uselessness' as a way to resist the 'tumultuous storm of usefulness' that capitalism augured. The club itself, which Rai is believed to have founded in Banaras in his time, was re-established in 1961 by the next generation of Banarasis on the new world-historical stage of postcoloniality and state-sponsored industrial modernization. However, in its second iteration, Thalua Club captures a particular historical anxiety of the Banarasis that stems from the peripheral role that Banaras is accorded in the project of modernization and nation-building as compared to other metropolitan cities. By analysing the two historical iterations, this paper problematizes extant postmodern theories of everyday life that conceive of performance of everyday life as merely individual, arbitrary acts of a subject imbued with agency, thus failing to grasp the specific ways in which it is shaped by history. In contrast, it calls for theorization of performance of everyday life that is not only deeply rooted in empirical history but is also impelled by an objective, world-historical consciousness that transcends its cultural particularity
Aesthetics · Art · Laziness · Computer Science · Indian Economic and Social Development · Psychology · Research, Science, and Academia
| Highly cited | No |
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