DISCOURSE ON CASTE IN THE THEATRE OF OPPRESSED DEVISED BY JANA SANSKRITI

Scope and extent of discourse on caste in the Theatre of Oppressed devised by Jana Sanskriti: Sonar Meye, Gayer Panchali.

Debasish Halder

Contents

• Introduction
• Methodology
• Research Background
• Theatre of the Oppressed: A Historical Background
• Jana Sanskriti: Praxis in social intervention
• Development, theatre and the third world: class and caste in state and nation.
• Caste and social capital in India
• West Bengal, a Casteless State: Propaganda versus Reality
• Research Gap
• Literature Review
• Scope and extent of discourse on caste in Sonar Meye
• Plot, themes, motifs and process
• Scope of discourse on caste
• Scope and extent of discourse on caste in Gayer Panchali
• Plot, themes, motifs and process
• Scope of discourse on caste
• Conclusion
• References

Introduction

Theatre of the oppressed in the third world perspective has taken into account several aspects like malnutrition, illiteracy, patriarchy, alcoholism, dowry, etc. This paper considers the role of Jana Sanskriti, a leading proponent of Theatre of the Oppressed, expanding pan-India and addressing issues of oppression and dehumanization in the Indian context. It seeks primarily to locate the scope of discourse on caste politics in its plays: Sonar Meye and Gayer Panchali and points at the gaps of such discourse. Caste is irrefutable in the Indian context and is linked with almost all factors of oppression. Therefore, a discourse on issues of Oppression by incorporation of any form of Applied Theatre must take into consideration the scope of caste for adequate communication and obtaining optimum social change.

Keywords:Bhodrolok, Chotolok, Dalit, Caste, Intersectionality, Dehumanisation, Oppression, Patriarchy, Migration.

Methodology

The research is qualitative and is dependent on secondary data collected from published dissertation papers and journals. The formatting is done in APA style. The Research Background is divided into several chapters, describing the genesis of Theatre of the Oppressed, its rendition from Third world perspective, different tools and the evolution of this form as a confluence of Marxist and Brechtian Ideas. Finally, it discusses the rendition of this form under the stewardship of Jana Sanskriti through the evolution of the Spect-Activism upgradation. This Section also provides a background for caste politics, caste-based social capital and the fallacy of the communistic ideology of class division based on the economy in the Indian context. In the literature review, the intersectionality of the themes used in the plays under study with prevalent caste politics in India have been highlighted and the theoretical and practical methodology of Jana Sanskriti in this accord has been questioned. The Videos of Performances in the domain of discussion have been cited for reference.

Research Background

Theatre of oppressed: A historical Background

Theatre of the Oppressed, devised in the early 1970s, by Brazilian director Augusto Boal, took the world in a radical whirlpool that revolutionised theatre worldwide. It became an international theatre movement that soon spread across the globe with adherents in more than 40 countries. The movement is incentivised by both political and aesthetic interests, in an attempt to democratise theatre. The productions of this methodology aim at providing a voice to the voiceless in different arenas of oppression. Eventually, Boal evolved different forms to aid the purpose. (Babcock, 2009)

Over Half a century Boal has centred his quest in pursuit of absolute democratisation of theatre. Having exposed himself to diverse cultural contexts Boal developed a repertoire of methods, which he called ‘The Arsenal’ of the Theatre of the Oppressed. These techniques invoke communities and individuals to explore themselves by engaging in socially transformative,critically reflexive theatre processes that aid them to locate themselves in the dynamism of socio-politics and equip them to transform it for the betterment. (Boal, 2021)

In an era of corporatism and totalitarianism in Brazil, under the Estado Novo, in the year 1931, Boal was born to Portuguese parents and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, over the last century, has witnessed a consecutive number of dictatorships, subjecting the country to constant military rule, where there was short-lived or no democracy to be seen. Boal was a member of the worker’s party(Partido dos Trabalhadores) and a leftist ideologically. Consequently, in response to the ultra-right-wing government, Boal took up the path of militancy. (Boal, 2001).

In the later years, Boal was studying advanced chemistry at Columbia University as well as taking playwriting and directing courses from John Gassner. This training had a deep impact on shaping Boal, such that he furthered his training and extended his stay there, subsequently, in 1956, Jose Renato, appointed him as the director and playwright of Arena Theatre, São Paulo. His exposure to method at the actor’s studio under Lee Strasberg induced him to hail the Stanislavsky system as the Socratic midwifery method. Although he expressed his reservations about the ‘excess’ in method and the ‘hypertrophy of subjectivity’.

Boal’s contribution to Arena Theatre was an amalgamation of the history and uniqueness of that theatre clubbed with his experiences drawn from the New York Training. It was during this period he was simultaneously wrapping his head around Brecht through later’s writings. Such confluence of ideas led to the production of Arena ContaZumbi in 1965, with ample devising of Brechtian techniques.

During his exile in Peru, Boal became active in the national literacy campaign. It was then that Boal adapted the principles of Paulo Freire in his theatrical stance. Boal premised on Frerie’s assumption that the peasantry was already literate but was unable to commute or process in the dominant Spanish language, Boal devised the language of the body. Thus Boal’s theatre was a congregation of Paulo Frierie and Bertolt Brecht as well as Stanislavsky also rendered influenced him.   But Boal went a step further in his experiments, eradicating the spectator actor boundary and creating of spect-actor, and several such experiments were documented in his publication of Theatre of the Oppressed. Theatre of the Oppressed was a repertoire of novel forms like image theatre, forum theatre and newspaper theatre. (Babbage, 2010)

Jana Sanskriti: Praxis in social intervention.

Jana Sanskriti has been using this Forum Theatre in the Sundarban Area of West Bengal since 1985 empowering the oppressed to bring about change at both social and personal levels. Sanjay Ganguly, in the early 1980s, was an ardent member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who in the years to come distanced himself from the party and sought alternative approaches to bring mass social change based on his foundation of communist Ideologies. Experiments of Jana Sanskriti are premised in rural Bengal, on the themes of domestic violence, alcohol abuse, issues of girl child and dowry. (Jha&Sanyal, 2019) At its nascent stage, Jana Sanskriti and its plays were rather propagandist and thereafter unintentionally harboured some elements which were oppressive in the sense that they were talking down to the audience rather than inducing a dialogue. The eventual developments of Jana Sanskriti in a rendition of an ideal forum theatre flourished in interaction with Boalhimself and upon contemplating past experiences.(Brahma et al., 2019) As Callinicos argues, Marxist social science cannot be alienated from its revolutionary practice. Gramsci in his formative years started uniting ideological stance with practice, thus adhering to the core Marxist ideology of praxis. However both Boal and Adrian Jackson, the translator of many of Boal’s writings, with time, have strategically abjured the categorization of ‘Marxist’ or ‘Brechtian’ to avoid pigeonhole generalisation and dilution of a flexible apparatus. It is undeniable that the theatre of Boal seeks at taking a dialectical retirement from Aristotelian theory. It is undeniable that he was immensely influenced by both Stanislavski and Brecht and insofar the Brechtian theories have contributed galore in the formation of his kind of theatre. While in Brechtian dialectical theatre, the audience delegates the power to the character to act for itself while perpetuating power to contemplate for oneself, the theatre of Boal believes in authorising no character to, leave alone think but also to speak or act for oneself. The spectator assumes the role themselves thus manifesting the select actor to rehearse for one’s revolution. Yet Boal is incriminated to have digressed from Marxist or Brechtian ideas in the sense that he resorted to theorising and no actual social change. (O’Sullivan, 2001) While, on the other hand, the metamorphosis of Jana Sanskriti’s version of forum theatre under the craftsmanship of SanjoyGanguly took Boal’s form of Forum theatre a step ahead where the spect-actors become spect-activists and strive for tangible social changes in communities. Studies infer that spect activists who emerged out of Jana Sanskriti in North 24 Parganas and other places have successfully brought about a radical change in the society and thereafter furnished tangible change in the lives of people. Today this institution marches over the face of the nation with more than thirty teams spread all across West Bengal, Tripura, Jharkhand and New Delhi.(Brahma et al., 2019) Thus Jana Sanskriti can be viewed as an upgrade and a modification in adhering to the idea of praxis.

Development, theatre and the third world: class and caste in state and nation.

After the Second World War, on the eve of the emancipation of colonial imperialism, the formation of the United Nations marked the beginning of the development of less developed countries. Theatre emerged as a tool for development in the 70s with a new face, communication and flexibility were emphasised and to such end, flexibility through folk idioms were harped on. This happened as a consequence of the failure of electronic media to cater to the needs of development, therefore the emergence of theatre and other traditional forms as an effective method of popularisation of education took place in Sub-Saharan Africa, Indian Subcontinent and Latin America.

Jana Sanskriti has been the pioneer of Theatre of Oppressed in India, it has addressed issues like domestic violence, child marriage, girl child trafficking, child abuse, maternal& child health, primary education & health care, illicit liquor, etc. While there is no explicit mention of caste in the scope of the discourse of Jana Sanskriti.While Jana Sanskriti rests on the socialistic domain in the Boal-Brecht-Marx-Freire nexus on one hand, on the other hand, one cannot disregard the reality of caste or caste-based social capital in India. Ambedkar points out that the socialist outlook looks at property and economic power as the only power to define the precondition of human societal existence. This idea however is flawed. Religion, according to Ambedkar, is a bigger power historically in the de-facto framework of Indian society, He states that “religion, social status and property are all sources of power, which one man has to control the liberty of another.”Therefore, Ambedkar points out that the source of power is social and religious, it is a reform of a concomitant sort that requires rudimentary attention. Thus, the proletariat is divided into a preconditioned oppressive hierarchy, i.e. caste, and shall never develop a sense of fraternity to bring about a revolution as envisaged by the socialist. The fact of Indian society is not based on the economic aspect of class division, it is divided into castes. Thus Ambedkar enlightens the socialist pointing out that “he(the socialist) will be compelled to take account of caste after revolution if he does not take account of it before the revolution. This is only another way of saying that, turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform unless you kill this monster”. (Ambedkar et al., 2016)

Caste and social capital in India

In India, the fabric is so built, that both socially and politically through lines of history that caste and class are inextricably interlinked. And so are hoarding opportunities. Economic inequality does not depend upon solely economic factors. Several examples across the world prove that demographic, social and political factors also contribute to the unequal redistribution of prosperity and wealth.

Nitin Kumar Bharti in his paper “Wealth Inequality, class, and caste in India: 1961-2012” points out: there is a concentration of Higher/ Forward castes in the higher wealth deciles, while lower castes are concentrated more in the lower wealth deciles.   While growing income and savings inequality is partly a factor contributing to rising wealth inequality in India, another significant factor that justifies this observation of a higher proportion of wealth and opportunity hoarding among higher castes is the historical distribution of wealth in the society. Upper castes in most parts of the country have been historically endowed with several capital privileges like land and the right to education, and this disputable implementation of land reforms has helped the persistence of wealth inequalities. (Bharti, 2018)Thus one can establish the inextricable nature of class and caste in West Bengal as well as the existence of caste-based social capital in India.

West Bengal, a Casteless State: Propaganda versus Reality

Under the prolonged 34 years of left rule in West Bengal, the question of caste has been considered “untouchable” whereas ‘class’ was the only answer to account for the oppressed. The Bengali Upper-Classintelligentsia, the Bhodroloks, deemed the question of caste regressive and would snootily bypass any such questions. The ground reality however was and has been not so “caste-less”. TheDalit population in West Bengal is 23.51% of its total population. At a pan-India level, 10.66% of the Dalit population lives in West Bengal, which makes it second Highest on a Pan-India level and third highest amongst the states. The halo of casteless society is a myth too expensive to be afforded in the state of West Bengal where an absent-minded casteism prevails at a horrific rate, so does passive electoral caste pandering of the Bauris and Bagdis. (Mukherjee, 2021) The matrimonial pages of daily newspapers still speak of caste, as do the ‘to-let’ advertisements. Caste violence, discrimination at workspace, negligible amount of inter-caste marriages reflect that we do not live in a caste-less utopia as claimed by the bhodroloks who decided for the chotoloks(Dalits) at their Baithakkhana(drawing room) and politburo where the entry of chotolok was restricted, yet atrocities like Maricchapi massacre happen and no one claims responsibility for the loss of lives. Thus,West Bengal practises a malicious form of casteism in its painted-pomp of class struggle. (Sen, 2013)

Research Gap

There lies a dearth of available research papers, pointing to a correlation between the activism of Jana Sanskriti and its theoretical and practical discourse on caste. To my knowledge there lies no research paper. Talking about the scope of the discourse of caste politics or caste-based social capital in the plays of Jana Sanskriti. Yet class and caste are inextricable in the context of India. Therefore oppression requires to be seen vividly in the context of caste before the context of class. 

Literature Review

Scope and extent of discourse on caste in Sonar Meye

Plot, themes, motifs and process

The play Sonar Meye(Girl of Gold) was developed by a group of women from some of the villages in West Bengal through workshops organised by Jana Sanskriti. To this end, around 200 images, devised by the performers) groups of women), led to the flourishing of the play. Sonar Meye was first staged in 1991. Nationally and globally this play has been staged more than 3500 times by different groups of Jana Sanskriti inciting forum discussions everywhere irrespective of differences in geography and culture. (Jana Sanskriti: Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed) Although this play evolved from groups of women from different villages in West Bengal, yet on the other hand, the themes have not been based on any isolated society. In a sense, the themes represent a pan-India outlook.

Plot: The play starts with women in the chorus yearning to come out and explore the world where their male counterparts deny their right to do so. Then a girl named Amba is shown playing with her male sibling. In due course themes of gender roles are addressed when the male sibling says it is not meant for girls to play games like cricket. The protagonist of the story Amba is seen to protest. Techniques like Brazilian hypnosis are used. Several symbolic representations of image theatre provoke discourse on the topic of gender discrimination, gender roles, equality and harmony, upon reaching equality they are seen to fight off an aggressor with the incorporation of lathi-khela a traditional Bengali martial art with sticks. This stood as a symbol of conscientization fighting the oppressive patriarchy. Themes of ignorance and patriarchy are reflected when the father is not ready to educate his daughter and assert that education is only meant for male and not for females who in turn are Janamdasi(slaves from birth). The mother, who although seen to be a passive disciple of the father at times also comments on the absurdity of patriarchy saying that the father is ready to sell off his land to get his daughter married off but not ready to invest in the girl’s education. (Jana Sanskriti: Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed)The girl is often hindered from studying by her parents while her brother is encouraged to pursue education. Although education is seen as a means for livelihood and not conscientization. The girl is married off against her will. Thein-laws demand a lump sum of dowry which the father of the girl succumbs to. Consequently, the girl is subjected to myriad domestic violence by her in-laws. In the final image, the girl yells at the top of her voice stating that the kitchen is not her world and she aspires to expand her world. While the chorus assumes the roles of oppressors repeats the motif stating otherwise. This focuses on how patriarchy shapes the attitude of men towards women. Themes of patriarchy, domestic violence, dowry and gender discrimination emerge in this play. (Sonar Meya 2020)

Scope of discourse on caste

Caste plays a determinant factor in stratifying privileges of gender. It is not just gender inequality or economic backwardness that binds the lives of Dalit women in India. Dalit women are subjected to discrimination that comes concomitant to the caste system in the face of religion, caste, and untouchability, which in turn manifests in the rebuttal of their social, economic, cultural, and political rights. The vulnerability of Dalit women to sexual violence and exploitation is also attributable to the caste factor held parallel to the factor of gender. In the name of religion, Dalit women are forced to fall subservient to detestable social practices such as devadasi/jogini (temple prostitution), resulting in sexual exploitation. The additional discrimination faced by Dalit women on account of their caste as well as gender is conspicuously depicted in the difference in their achievements in various human development indicators. In the case of literacy or for that matter, longevity, Dalit women are worse off than Dalit men and women of upper castes. The problems of Dalit women are unique and fierce in the sense that they bear the ‘triple burden’ of gender bias, caste discrimination, and economic deprivation.(Sabharwal&Sonalkar, 2015) Therefore the case of social capital based on caste identity and the intersectionality of class, caste and gender seems to be missing in the discourse of Sonar Meye.

            Another theme addressed in this play is domestic violence, while domestic violence is reflective of derogation and detriment, the socio-politics of caste adds more intricate features to domestic violence, again based on intersectionality, domestic violence impacts dalitwomen with not just the fierceness of patriarchy but also the concomitant dehumanisation exercised by the caste system.  Violence driven by family social structure depicts the uneven distribution of stress in varied sections of society owing to unequal income opportunities. (Hackett, 2011) Caste plays a significant role in ensuring a lack of job security and unemployment in the informal and private sectors, as recorded statistically over time. The private and informal sector accounts for a colossal share of employment in India. Therefore indicating a predominant insecurity in livelihood earnings fuelled by caste discrimination. (Thorat&Thorat, 2022). Violence has been established as an adaptation to stress, and socially structured stress can lead to diverse manifestations of domestic violence. Therefore the social-structure model authored by Richard Gelles when applied to the caste factor determining income inequality and employment inequality, furnishes evidential results of its correlation to domestic violence. (Hackett, 2011). Another theme that has been addressed in this play is the theme of the education of girl children. Again, the specificity of the socio-politics of caste in association with the stipulated theme was absent in the discourse. In ruralareas, specifically, girls belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes have the highest rates of exclusion. Girls in rural areas, particularly those from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India also have higher rates of exclusion. While the national average for exclusion for children belonging to primary school age is 3.6 per cent, the percentages are higher, i.e. 5.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, respectively. Again, among the Scheduled Castes, girls have been seen to have the highest rates of exclusion at 6.1 per cent. (Global initiative on out-of-school children). All the themes in the play can be broadly classified under the domain of patriarchy. The occurrence of patriarchy is omnipresent across all societies differentially concerning forms and measures owing to cultural and sociopolitical differences. Speaking of such differences, the Brahminical form of patriarchy in Hinduism adds uniqueness to the rendition of patriarchy in the Indian societal context. Brahmins, the highest of castes according to the age-old Indian caste system, sought to ensure supremacy, hierarchy and ‘purity’ of castes through an endogamous marriage system. Thus  Brahmanical patriarchy can be broadly classified as directive principles, a subset to the institution of caste, with an association of gender and caste, perpetuating caste boundaries, and to this end, the role of women is deemed crucial. Thus through the exercise of stringent control over reproduction through endogamy, Brahmanical Patriarchy attempts at regulating caste lines. (Kaur, 2020) Evidentially, in early India, Brahmanical patriarchy is seen to be banking on the conformity of women to achieve an embargo on the ebbing of caste hierarchy.  Evidence proves that such conformity was achieved through the amalgamation of consent and coercion. However socio-religious manipulation was exercised to render consent, which was mostly a failure and no real consent was achieved, thus resorting to coercion became handier. Despite all this caste boundaries were rigidly maintained by both men and women of upper castes. Protraction of the caste system by women was ensured partially through their devotion to a structure, which was incentivised although keeping them subjugated. (Chakravarti, 2018) Endogamy is but one of the most important forms of subjugation. The practice of adhering to specific ethnoecological or caste groups to ensure homogeneity, while rejecting others, through marriage is called endogamy. Striving to ensure ingenuity and purity of blood/caste, practitioners of endogamy combat blending with supposedly ‘other’ populations in a form of self-distinction. A system of this order enables smaller cultures to sustain for long durations, such is the case of Brahmins, who despite being small in number maintained authority (moral, social, religious, economic, legal and political) over all other caste groups since ages. Everyone irrespective of gender is obligated to marry within their caste to maintain the purity of bloodlines, restricting kinships within the periphery of caste. The institution of caste thrives on its exclusivity from other castes that can be only ensured through endogamy. Therefore Endogamy is one significant approach in perpetuating qualitative features of a caste. Subsequently, marriages are arranged adhering to the same principles. (Kaur, 2020).

Scope and extent of discourse on caste in Gayer Panchali

Plot, themes, motifs and process

The setting of the play, Gayer Panchali, depicts rural India.The methodology and process is curated through a collage of events depicting village life in India.Therefore, no exercise of linearity in dramaturgy is to be witnessed. The advancements of the play shed light on various aspects of rural India and their correlation with several government policies meant for rural development. The play depicts the deteriorating health conditions in villages and the lack of proper medical facilities. The subplots are not fictional, in the sense they are backed by evidence of real-world occurrences. Oppression is addressed through the depiction of various themes-. The themes include oppression by leaders of political parties, panchayatPradhan, labour contractors or for that matter government doctors as well. The oppressed are the rural masses. The use of the lathi in this play lends it a unique aesthetic style. Folk tunes from different parts of the country are incorporated and the oppression carried out on village masses is shown. (Jana Sanskriti: Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed) A broad classification of themes can furnish aspects of the migration of villagers, issues faced by farmers and the plight of the working class. Marxist themes of “Workers of the world, unite!” is seen to be dominant throughout the play. (Story of the Village 2020).

Scope of discourse on caste

During the play a mention of the Zamindari and its evolution into a modern-day leader of political parties, in the sense that the ancestors of Zamindars have eventually become elected members of political parties and gram panchayats, who in turn exercise similar forms of oppression on the peasantry. But the identity of peasantry and zamindars was not just an identity of proletariat and bourgeoisie, as widely conceived. This correlation has its roots embedded in the caste system of Indian society. Bonded slavery has its roots in the Zamindari System, which in turn relied perpetually on the caste system. Even after the abolishment of zamindari in independent India, the interplay between the caste system and the zamindari system had grave impacts thereafter. In contemporary caste is existent and predominant, and the genesis of modernity succumbed to battling with caste. The caste system has continually metamorphosed itself and adapted to the transformations in the economy and polity of the nation, dehumanising today itself. Every year the cases of caste violence seem to be increasing, unleashing inhuman atrocities on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Deprived caste barely obtains justice, where issues like rape and abuse are mostly settled through compromises. Dalit women and girls continue to face immense rates of discrimination and are subjected to sexual abuse continually. (Baruah, 2017). While the zamindari system was based on caste lineage and its interplay, and while it has ceased to exist in modern India, panchayat systems or village governance do exist. The panchayat system, as evidenced in ancient India, was premised on the caste system and social status based on the caste system.

. Local self-government concept was introduced in 1882, after that it took over a century for it to be relevant in India. Now that the Dalits are participating in the decision-making, owing to decentralised governance, evidence of caste violence has radically increased over the years. The upper castes perceive panchayat as machinery for lower castes to avail their rights. However, the upper castes have been historically controlling the affairs of villages, consequently, upper castes strive to destroy these institutions. The first and foremost point of attack has been elections to panchayats in this accord. (Mathew, 2013) Thus, the panchayat system in India has the utmost relevance of caste, making the grassroots socio-politics of caste in contemporary India embedded in the villages of India. Thus caste identities and their significant role in caste-based social capital in the ecology of villages cannot be denied, However, this aspect was barely touched upon in this play. Another theme that this play touched upon is the theme of migration, Migration too is immensely related to caste politics. While accounting for causes of migration, the aspect of caste has been broadly overlooked, discrimination faced by oppressed cates on account of social acceptance, labour market and availing the most rudimentary services in all sections of India has a huge correlation with migration, signified by migration of 93 million lower caste individuals to cities in 2011. Pushed by exclusionary policies of the government, the migrant workers flock to the cities, and further facing denial of basic amenities of life. The impact of such destitute conditions is higher on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes of India, the most disadvantageous castes of India. (Chatterjee, 2022) Thus caste plays a vital role in migration to cities and other states, an aspect of paramount importance, hardly addressed in this play.

Conclusion

The Theatre of Jana Sanskriti, through its incorporation of Theatre of the Oppressed and its concomitant forms, i.e., Forum theatre and image theatre is evidenced to have brought about social changes in the addressed communities. However, upon dissecting its plays, Sonar Meye and Gayer Panchali, a huge gap in the discourse on caste politics and its socio-political aspects in addressing oppression in the Indian context is found. While themes of Patriarchy and Rural living have been addressed, a colossal vacuum exists in detailed consideration of their association with irrefutable and burning caste issues in India. 

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Author: Debasish Halder. M.A Drama, Rabindra Bharati University. UGC NET Qualified in Performing Arts Dance/Drama & Theatre with JRF.