ABSTRACT
The multiple usages of the terms theatre and performance in the post-independence Indian historical context include controversial revivalist and reconstructed concepts of “folk” and “traditional” that eulogise rootedness into communitarian practices. This responds, in part, to Western academic developments in the field. This chapter critically historicises the crucial period of the 1950s and 1960s, which saw the establishment of state archives focusing on some genres of performances (officially termed the folk or the traditional) and overlooking others. This contrasts with the activities of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (1951–54), which during the same period returned to popular practices. In contextualising the selective archiving and cultural practices, this chapter revisits debates and controversies around conceptions of popular and populist cultures and what practitioners, performers, and audiences meant by “the people” in the transitional phase of a colonial to a post-colonial cultural practice. In light of the growing right-wing populism and inscription of religious identities in all spheres of Indian cultural life, the chapter urges that critical historiographic attention must be paid to historicisation of these significant debates around culture and communitarian and secular positions.
