The Santhal family and the invention of a subaltern counterpublic
The Santhal family and the invention of a subaltern counterpublic
With reference to the work of the South Asian Subaltern Studies historians, and to Mahasweta Devi's short fiction, this essay traces the place of the subaltern as a subject of representation in Ramkinkar’s Baij's 1937 public sculpture, Santhal Family. By visualising the plight of a subaltern group who have been excluded from the social and political life of the emergent postcolonial nation state in a style that articulates the aesthetic conventions of tribal art and European primitivism, the essay argues that Santhal Family supplements the emancipatory claims of elite nationalism from the historical perspective of the Santal, and gestures towards a subaltern counterpublic that remains to be invented.
ramkinkar baij, santal family, subaltern, subaltern studies, mahasweta devi, counterpublic
9072828321
56-61
Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp
Morton, Stephen
3200c49e-fcfa-4088-9168-1d6998266ec1
31 January 2008
Morton, Stephen
3200c49e-fcfa-4088-9168-1d6998266ec1
Morton, Stephen
(2008)
The Santhal family and the invention of a subaltern counterpublic.
In,
Dasgupta, Anshuman, Szewczyk, Monika and Watson, Grant
(eds.)
Santhal Family: Positions Around an Indian Sculpture.
Antwerp, Belgium.
Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp, .
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Book Section
Abstract
With reference to the work of the South Asian Subaltern Studies historians, and to Mahasweta Devi's short fiction, this essay traces the place of the subaltern as a subject of representation in Ramkinkar’s Baij's 1937 public sculpture, Santhal Family. By visualising the plight of a subaltern group who have been excluded from the social and political life of the emergent postcolonial nation state in a style that articulates the aesthetic conventions of tribal art and European primitivism, the essay argues that Santhal Family supplements the emancipatory claims of elite nationalism from the historical perspective of the Santal, and gestures towards a subaltern counterpublic that remains to be invented.
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Published date: 31 January 2008
Keywords:
ramkinkar baij, santal family, subaltern, subaltern studies, mahasweta devi, counterpublic
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 66095
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/66095
ISBN: 9072828321
PURE UUID: 795e6b05-ceda-472a-9abd-adaf35c75f82
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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2009
Last modified: 27 Jul 2024 01:39
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Contributors
Editor:
Anshuman Dasgupta
Editor:
Monika Szewczyk
Editor:
Grant Watson
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