A manifesto to decentre theatre and performance studies

With the climate of Brexit, xenophobia and white supremacy on the rise, health and safety of Black and Global Majority people under threat during the spread of Covid in the UK and elsewhere, a discussion of colonialism, migration, borders, and equality – in the classrooms and outside – is more pertinent than ever. Situating the ongoing Decolonise the University movement as part of broader social justice struggles to address the political, social, and economic crises we find ourselves in today, I propose a few ways of decentering Theatre and Performance Studies in the form of a manifesto. What follows is a meditation on precarity, critical pedagogy, Black study, feminist survival, ethical research praxis, and the violence of caste, colourism, and racialisations

Be a Little Careful: Women, Violence and Performance in India

The essay analyzes a contemporary Indian feminist performance, Thoda Dhyaan Se (A Little Carefully, 2013), by framing it in the spatial ecosystem of the city of Delhi and explores its engagement with the feminist movement and the national imaginary of India. It examines the workings of the cultural economy of the city to discuss the effect of its spatial contours as well as the markers of caste, class, sexuality, and ethnicity. The discussion shows that the concerns raised by Thoda Dhyaan Se are limited to urban, middle-class, and upper-caste women and overlook the oppressive realities of women from non-urban, lower-class, and lower-caste backgrounds

Walking at Midnight: Women and Danger on Delhi’s Streets

I discuss the walking practice of Delhi-based artist Mallika Taneja in the context of its engagement with, and intervention in, the contemporary conversations on sexualised violence, gender, space and mobility in India. Taneja’s work is part of a variety of feminist activism to take place in India since the horrific gang rape of Jyoti Singh in Delhi in December 2012. Taneja organises regular midnight walks in various parts of the city, which are advertised via social media. This essay explores the significance of walking as a pedagogical tool to understand the relationship between gender, city, space and mobility in Delhi. When conversations on sexualized violence are accelerating in the wake of #MeToo, I examine the contours of embodied knowledge practices enabled by collective walking by women at midnight. I discuss how walking-based methodologies allow for a learning process that is lived, somatic, and personal and which is rooted in specific spatial contexts based on listening and care. Using an intersectional perspective that pays close attention to the role of region, class, caste, sexuality and ethnicity (Mohanty, 2013), this essay is also a prompt against a unified theory of gender, safety, and mobility

Walk in India and South Africa: notes towards a decolonial and transnational feminist politics

The essay discusses Maya Rao's Walk and The Mothertongue Project's Walk: South Africa to explore the languages of transnational and embodied feminist politics that these performances conjure. The two performances are instances of artistic responses to sexualized violence in India and South Africa as they engage with the politics of walking in the city. Working with Chandra Talpade Mohanty's formulation of feminist solidarity (2013) and Boaventura de Sousa Santos's translation-as-dialogue (2014), I discuss the radical forms of feminist methodological imaginations attempted and nurtured by them. This essay examines the political and aesthetic potential of translatability of performance in the world of global asymmetries and the implications it holds for intersectional feminist conversations in the global South

Be a little careful: Women, violence, and performance in India

In this article Swati Arora analyzes a contemporary Indian feminist performance, Thoda Dhyaan Se (A Little Carefully, 2013), by framing it in the spatial ecosystem of the city of Delhi and exploring its engagement with feminist discourse and the national imaginary of India. It highlights the workings of the cultural economy of the city, which is defined by its spatial contours as well as the privileges of caste, class, sexuality, and ethnicity, and at the same time explores the heterogeneous nature of the country's feminist movement through an intersectional perspective. Swati Arora argues that the concerns raised by Thoda Dhyaan Se are limited to urban, middle-class, and upper-caste women and overlook the oppressive realities of women from non-urban, lower-class, and lower-caste backgrounds. With conversations around gender focused through campaigns like #MeToo and #TImesUp, it is important to contextualize the voices that are articulated and those that are excluded. Swati Arora is an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

Observational study of vaginal culture in symptomatic and asymptomatic non pregnant female patient in tertiary care hospital

Background: Vaginal miroflora plays an important role in maintaining healthy microenvironment. Lactobacilli are the dominant flora responsible for this. Any disturbance in balance of normal and abnormal flora leads to different types of vaginal infections like, vulvo-vaginal candidiasis, and bacterial vaginosis. Most common organisms causing vaginitis is Gardnerella vaginalis which causes bacterial vaginosis. Other organisms responsible for infections are, candida, trichomonas, and viruses. Abnormal growth of pathogenic bacteria during pregnancy can lead to various adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This is an observational study conducted in a tertiary care hospital over a period of 6 months (January 2023 to June 2023). Overall, out of 135 women, sample of 120 women were taken and treated accordingly. Results: Among 120 women, 52 (43.3%) women had no growth on culture, while 20 patients (16.6%) showed growth of Klebsiella and 20 (16.6%) patient shows Candida and rest shows growth of other pathogen. Conclusions: In our study, half of the women were found to be with positive culture report, who shown improvement after treatment

Gouty Tophi - Uncommon Entity on Cytology

Gouty tophi are nodular masses of monosodium urate crystals deposited in soft tissues, common sites being fingers, toes, bursae of elbows and helix of ears. Rarely tophi can develop without acute gouty arthritis. Here we report such a clinically unsuspected case of gouty tophi, which presented with a soft tissue swelling on elbow, but was diagnosed as gouty tophi on FNAC

Current placenta previa management and outcome in a rural tertiary care centre

Background: The reported incidence for placenta previa averages 0.3% or 1 case in 300 to 400 deliveries. Multiparity, advanced maternal age, cigarette smoking, previous caesarean delivery, history of abortions or uterine surgical procedures are some of the risk factors contributing to the development of placenta previa. Massive obstetrical haemorrhage in placenta previa is associated with severe maternal morbidity and mortality. A significant number of mothers can be saved if right approach of management is followed in placenta previa.Methods: The present case study is a retrospective analysis carried out in a tertiary care centre to study the risk factors and maternal and perinatal outcome in cases of placenta previa. The study included antenatal patients diagnosed as placenta previa on sonography at or >26 weeks of pregnancy. Data was compiled and statistically analysed.Results: Incidence of Placenta Previa in our study was 0.54%. 73.2% patients had history of previous cesarean sections. 53.6% patients were referred from outside. 98.2% patients delivered by caesarean section. Obstetric hysterectomy was required in 3.5% of total cases. 10.7% cases required the ICU admission after delivery. There was no maternal mortality in the study group. The mean gestational age at delivery was 35±2.4weeks. The mean APGAR at 5 min was 9±2.2.Conclusions: Increasing rates of caesarean sections in present era indicate that incidence of Placenta Previa is expected to rise. Good antenatal care, availability of emergency obstetric services, infrastructure, blood bank facility, HDU and ICU care and NICU services can improve maternal and neonatal outcome

Analysis of the adverse events related to transfer of neonates to a tertiary center of Central India

Background: Institutional delivery and in utero transport of the newborn is the safest method of neonatal transport. However, neonatal illnesses cannot always be predicted, resulting in the continued need of transfer of these babies after delivery. Objective: The objective of the study was to analyze the adverse events related to transfer of neonates to a tertiary center of Central India, the impact of the epidemiological factors, and the role of temperature, oxygenation, perfusion, and blood sugar (TOPS) scoring in predicting mortality in transferred neonates. Materials and Methods: This observational study was conducted at the special care newborn unit of a tertiary teaching hospital of Indore. A total of 217 transported neonates were included in the study. The TOPS scoring for each neonate was done at admission and the parameters of the TOPS score were correlated with the outcome. Results: The common indications for referral were respiratory distress in 103 (47.4%), prematurity/low birth weight care in 31 (14.2%), sepsis in 27 (12.4%), seizures in 21 (9.6%), and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in 16 (7.3%) cases. At the time of admission, 25.4% of neonates had normal temperature, while 31.8% had temperature between 96.8 and 97.6°F, and 42.9% had hypothermia (89.6–96.6°F). Almost 5.1% of admitted neonates were hypoglycemic (<45 mg/dl) and rest 94.9% were normoglycemic (>45 mg/dl). Hypoxemia (oxygen saturation <90%) was seen in 51.6% of neonates and 16.1% of neonates had prolonged capillary refill time at admission. A higher TOPS score of 3 and 4 was correlated with higher incidence of mortality. Conclusion: TOPS score is a useful and easy to use method to assess the physiological status and helps in prediction of mortality in neonatal transport