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Inchoate in Kota? Contesting Authority through a North Indian Pageant‐Play
Author(s) -
Peabody Norbertt
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1997.24.3.559
Subject(s) - hegemony , heteroglossia , resistance (ecology) , sociology , power (physics) , nationalism , consciousness , hinduism , gender studies , law , epistemology , religious studies , philosophy , political science , politics , linguistics , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
Through an examination of a disputed north Indian pageant‐play, I show how subversive activity can transform existing structures of power while always remaining culturally informed. Thus the power of a hegemony does not lie in its ability to define a consciousness within the boundaries of which all resistance takes place. Rather, a particular dominant structure defines a center from which contestation develops. It defines a point of departure for resistance, not the extent of its universe. [hegemony, resistance, heteroglossia, Hindu nationalism, Ramlila, north India]