November 9, 4:00 pm
Sultan Room, 340 Stephens Hall
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Lecture: "The Indigenous Islamic Performances of Bangladesh as Mechanisms of Hegemony and Resistance"
Syed Jamil Ahmed, Professor, Department of Theatre and Music, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Prof. Ahmed will discuss three indigenous performances of Bangladesh, Waz Mahfil, Madar Pirer Gan and Jari Gan, to show that these function as 'undecidables' disrupting the either/or logic of binary opposition. Not only are they acts of resistance of the subaltern class but also hegemonic tools for the dominant classes. The undecidable character is multiplied when one asks if the subaltern can speak.

Sponsored by the Caucasus and Central Asia Program, the Center for South Asia Studies, and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies