Humorous Masculinity

Perera S, Pathak DN, Sandhya AS, Adkar C. Humorous Masculinity. In: Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia. Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times. London: Routledge India; 2021: 139-155.Stereotypical representations of socially marginalised groups have been historically used towards the ‘othering’ of certain communities. This chapter explores the use of humour in such representations to understand how laughter is performed to draw social boundaries with the marginalised other. The Indian male gaze cast upon the Nepali man is at the center of this discussion. We use the framework of the superiority theory of humour and problematise the ‘gaze’ to trace the impact of race relations embedded in colonial history and the present-day migrant-class status of the Nepali male subject, on his stereotypical portrayal. The arguments unravelling the imagination of this caricature are built upon examples from three distinct sites of humour. We begin with the examination of text-based jokes forwarded through mass-messaging platforms and then proceed to look at how these portrayals are captured in visual media and in the cinematic experience. Lastly, we analyse ‘cringe pop’ on social media in search of the Indian male gaze when the visibility of this stereotypical Nepali man has waned up to an extent. The gaze that is cast upon the subject of such humour is understood in terms of what becomes a hegemonic ideal of masculinity and the laughter that follows further legitimises this exercise of power

Spirit possession

In many societies around the world, spirit possession is a multifaceted phenomenon. It causes ill-health and suffering, is a source of knowledge regardingways of tackling social and health problems, and constitutes modes of collective remembering. In the expert literature, spirit possession is diversely referred to as altered states of consciousness, or dissociation or dissociative states. According to specific social circumstances, spirit possession is experienced as constructive in that it can provide healing resources; it is destructive in that it can cause serious health and social afflictions; and it can also be uncertain by encapsulating positive and negative experiences at once and over time. In the 1960s and 1970s sociological approaches reduced spirit possession to symbolic forms of power struggles. It was argued that disadvantaged groups, particularly women, attempted to redress their precarious condition by means of spirit possession (Lewis 1971). Anthropologists have spent lengthy periods of time conducting ethnographic studies of spirit possession in numerous societies and have suggested that the diversity of the phenomenon makes it difficult to capture in a single approach and definition. Thus, anthropologists and other social scientists tend to use definitions that are consistent with the type of spirit possession that is prevalent in a particular society at a specific point in time, whereas others have applied multidisciplinary approaches in search of complex understandings.There are, however, points of departure that any student, expert, or media professional must consider when engaging with the topic. Spirit possession is an embodied phenomenon which nevertheless transcends the individual and becomes part of group dynamics (Stoller 1995). It flourishes in societies that cultivate the belief that an individual’s body and action can be influenced and controlled by deities and spirits. Spirit possession manifests in ritual practice and in everyday life. In these contexts and for the people involved, spirits are real and are regarded as persons (Lambek 1981). Spirits are inseparable fromparticular social attitudes to death and particular historical circumstances of death (Kwon 2008). Research conducted in numerous societies consistently confirms that both men and women are afflicted by spirits; however, women are the principal focal point of possession trance. Because of gaps in reporting the identity of the spirits, the literature offers a less clear picture regarding the gender of the spirits. Recent case studies conducted in specific war-torn communities show, however, that afflicting spirits tend to be male (Igreja et al. 2010). In social theory, spirit possession has continuously animated debates and analysis regarding the potential and limits of human intentionality (also referred to as 'human agency')

\u27Royal science\u27 and civil war in Sri Lanka : a comment on S. Goonatilake

In highlighting the relationship between the production of knowledge, the administration of government and the formation of subject&ndash;citizens in colonial systems, post-colonialism has arguably found its most fertile field of inquiry and revision in South Asia. The reasons for this are complex and relate, in part, to the nature of both colonial administration and the colonised civilisations to be found in the region, as well as to the nature of the different independence movements&mdash;many of these persisting well beyond the formal grants of independence in the late 1940s. Also important is the emerging post-colonial middle class, its transnational interconnections comprising inter alia extensive participation in knowledge/information economies, and its &lsquo;organic intellectuals&rsquo; (Gramsci 1971) whose work represents the interests of their class. In other words, the tremendous insights offered by post-colonial theory into the nature of latent or implicit power relations to be found in forms of knowledge reveal the ongoing complicity of scholarship in government. Post-colonialism, thus, raises the issue of how the nexus of knowledge and power translates into contemporary situations&mdash;the post-colonial predicament (Breckenridge and van der Veer 1993).<br /