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JSL06

JSL06

Contents

From the Editor's Desk 
5

1. New Zealand Theatre: Maori and
Pacific Plays in English

Dieter Riemenschneider
7

2. Inner and Outer Space in the
Plays of Mahesh Dattani

Angelie Multani
21

3. Bhangra Moves
Anjali Gera
33

4. Spectacular India: Performing
the National Imaginary

Nilanjana Mukherjee
46

5. SANKRANTI (Summer Solstice): A Play
P. Lankesh
Translated from Kannada by H.S. Komalesha
59

6. Reflections on the Need for a Dalit Theatre
K.A. Gunasekaran
Translated from Tamil by B. Mangalam
76

7. "Political by birth not by choice”:
Interview with Drew Hayden Taylor

Pankaj K. Singh
82

8. The Unraveling of the Self: Broken Images:
Karnad’s Postmodern Project

Tutun Mukherjee
88

9. Madness and Theater: Pirandello and Fo —
Readings of Henry IV and Accidental
Death of an Anarchist

Sharmishta Lahiri
101

10. A Brief History of Chinese Huaju:
A Soclo-Political Perspective

Sabaree Mitra
119

11. An Introduction to Alhakhand:
A North Indian Folk Epic

Namrata Chaturvedi
129

12. Theatrical Spaces and Contemporary
Indian Women Directors

Lakshmi Subramanyam
135

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.