My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian be... more My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian behavior many Asian women recognize: the silencing of herself. It is difficult to locate Kim’s voice in this complex text among the layers of theorists and artists. I respect the desire to let the work speak for itself, but I found myself longing to get to know the author and her experiences and insights better. In undergraduate curricula, Kim’s book could serve multiple purposes. The book would be a great foundational text for an introductory Asian American studies or race and ethnic studies course. For an upper-division performance theory course, it would be a useful text on intersections of identity and theatre. The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday is complex and layered and can be consumed alone or paired with other texts to create a meaningful experience.
This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses... more This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses. The PhD thesis described in the case study seeks to develop a new analytical model based on the theory of Rasa aesthetics
Learning outcomes After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be abl... more Learning outcomes After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be able to develop an understanding of how to identify female leadership competencies; analyze social and psychological barriers to developing female leadership; and consider various solutions to build trust in rural settings by overcoming social and psychological barriers. Case overview/synopsis In 2022, Mrs Anjaria, the Managing Director, and Mr Anjaria, the Chairperson of the Rangoli Group of Institutions in Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India), were facing the challenge of how to empower thousands of females in the preschool venture in the rural area as they could see the impact of their female edupreneurs in the urban area. Both had worked up the ladder in the preschool venture after quitting their professional careers in the corporate world. They now wanted to create female edupreneurs to empower women and bring about social and educational change at the grassroots level. They needed to make an ...
This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses... more This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses. The PhD thesis described in the case study seeks to develop a new analytical model based on the theory of Rasa aesthetics
This thesis tests a newly developed model based on the Natyashastra, an Indian treatise on perfor... more This thesis tests a newly developed model based on the Natyashastra, an Indian treatise on performing arts, and uses this for theatrical analysis in the contexts of British Asian theatre productions and contemporary Indian theatre in English. The study offers a tool that can provide an alternative model of analysis. By extending the existing analytical models, we can ask questions concerning the actors' emotional manifestation and their mental state while acting. This thesis attempts to interpret the actors' gestures and provides a structure to analyse them. In order to do that, this project uses the Natyashastra and rasa/bhava concepts as performance analysis tools, which might provide an alternate perspective to theatre analysis. The thesis reviews existing models of theatrical analysis and argues for an alternative model in Chapter One. It examines the analysis of theatre productions by scholars of British Asian theatre and contemporary Indian theatre in English in Chapter Two. Here, I review the ways in which scholars of British South Asian theatre have examined theatrical productions so far. Chapter Three tests the proposed model on four theatre productions, illustrating the ways in which theatre productions could be analysed, and identifies the model's limitations and advantages. Chapter Four discusses findings in the light of the results analysed in Chapter Three; it also outlines some questions which needs further investigation. By doing so, this thesis contributes to the field of performance analysis and theatre studies by developing strong links between the manifestation of the actors' bodymind, the directors' reception after their first reading of a play's text, and playwrights' initial emotions within the text, through production analysis. 9 A term coined by Zarrilli, which I will discuss later in the due course. 10 Prague School of Linguistics introduced semiotic theory to theatre and performance, see Jindrich Honzl's 'Dynamics of the Sign in the Theatre' and Jiri Veltrusky's 'Dramatic Text as a Component of Theatre. Chapter One: Existing Models of Theatre Analysis, the Natyashastra, and a Proposed Model Chapter Five, 'Preliminaries of a Play', deals with the concept of purvaranga (prologue), comprising dance compositions and song recitations to please gods and demons. The sutradhara (stage manager) adores Brahma 29 with dhurva songs, and in doing do announces the subject of the drama, sets the tone for the opening scene, and serves as a bridge between the audience and the world of the play. Chapters Six, 'Sentiments', and Seven, 'The Emotional and Other States', examine the fundamental emotional concepts and aesthetics of rasabhava. These two chapters are discussed separately later in this section. Chapters Eight, Nine, and Ten codify body language and hand gestures, while Chapters Eleven to Fourteen address movement and steps. Bharata provides an extensive repertoire of sitting postures and steps to suit gender, character, occasion, mood, and dramatic situation (Ibid., p. 68). Chapters Fifteen, Sixteen, and Nineteen set out the rules of prosody, metrical patterns, modes of address and intonation, respectively. Chapters Seventeen, Twenty, and Twenty-seven identify the marks of a good play, genres of plays, and success of plays in dramatic productions. Chapter Eighteen focuses on the rules for use of language, and the subject of chapter twenty-one is plot (see Table 44). Chapter Twenty-two addresses the different Vrtti (styles). Chapters Twenty-three and Twenty-four address the aharyaabhinaya 30 , and refer to the use of make-up, costume/adornment for males and females, property, masks, minimal set design, and special representation such as seasons, forest and animals. Chapter Twenty-five focuses on different kinds of representation, temperament, and emotions represented in different ways. Chapter Twenty-six describes dealing with courtesans (dancers in courts). Chapters Twenty-seven to Thirty-three deal with music, musical instruments, rhythm and metrical cycles, and the qualities, origins, and nature of songs. Bharata argues, "That which cannot be expressed through speech should not be expressed through song" (Bharata, 1950, p. 147). 29 According to the Hindu religion, Brahma is the Creator of the Universe, depicted as sitting on a lotus. 30 Literal translation acting with decorated body and stage and I will explain further in the due course.
Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 2021
A simple google search for books on online teaching results in hundreds of choices. Given that fo... more A simple google search for books on online teaching results in hundreds of choices. Given that for almost a year now, most of the instruction in schools and colleges has been online, it is not a surprise. And, as with any major event like this, everyone who thinks has something to offer, will do so. It then becomes the duty of us professors to sift through, and hone in on the signal from all the noise that accompanies the topic. Like so many of the faculty who had to switch from a brick-and-mortar classroom to online teaching in March of 2020, my primary focus at that time was to ensure that the content is made available to students. At that time, there was limited time to explore all the features that video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) offered. I am one of the 1.5 million faculty in degree granting institutions (Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty, 2020), who, along with 3.5 million K-12 teachers (Digest of Education Statistics, 2019) had to switch to online education over the past year. To improve the techniques that I have been using and reading about, talking to colleagues about and tweaking my lectures and assignments, I decided to identify a relevant and comprehensive book. This book, Teaching in the Online Classroom: Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal by Doug Lemov and the Teach Like A ChampionTM (TLAC) team (Lemov, 2020), is one of the more insightful books that I have recently read indepth. It uses examples and videos that include explanations of the “why” and the “how” of the teaching techniques in the virtual classroom. At the outset itself the authors note that the new normal is not just about embracing technology, there is a lot more to it. The insertion of the screen between the students and the teacher causes several issues including loss of attention, engagement, motivation, accountability, amongst other challenges. The teacher must transcend the screen by minimizing the separation that it inherently holds – what the authors call “dissolving their screen” – and establish meaningful routines and procedures. The authors put the reader at ease by talking about their struggles with learning all the features that Zoom offers. They balance the use of technology with pedagogical adaptations. They explain their approach by breaking down the concepts, providing multiple examples, and still keep the humility by making no proclamations that they have found the best methods for online teaching. The discussion about the human brain and learning techniques in an online environment is a good reminder for all teachers. Anecdotal examples provide specific information about the teachers whose expertise in a given area. This helps the reader identify with them more. They seem “real”, making it easier for the reader to connect with them, and thus wanting to adopt their practices. The book, if seen as one of the best practices for online teaching, is a good one. It does not offer any new concepts. However, in defense of the authors it is difficult to offer best practices, since there is so much already available for all to follow. I am glad that I read the book and have recommended it to colleagues because this book provides us the
ethnographic aspect of the play’, whose performance consists primarily of ‘minor mannerisms’ and ... more ethnographic aspect of the play’, whose performance consists primarily of ‘minor mannerisms’ and other quotidian, mundane behaviors (p. 46). The innovative and orientalist deployment of the Property Man, according to Kim, ‘enabled white American audiences to see the Chinese and to see as the Chinese’ (p. 49, emphasis in original), arrestingly suggesting the performativity of the racial optic itself. Convincingly, Kim traces the aesthetic device of the Property Man to Wilder’s Our Town, suggesting that the racial mundane was not only pivotal to the racialization of the turn-of-the-century Chinese, but also the aesthetics of twentiethcentury American theatre. Kim’s racial mundane gains additional depth in the second chapter, which focuses on Tea (1987) by hapa Japanese American playwright Velina Hasu Houston and Itsuka (1992) by Japanese Canadian novelist Joy Kogawa. Drawing from Victor Turner’s foundational work on ritual, Kim argues that everyday ritual within these two critically underappreciated works ‘dynamically materializes communal ties as an oppositional response to the dual imperatives of racialization and assimilation’ (p. 76). Thus, juxtaposed with the first chapter, the racial mundane becomes equally a technology for resistance as a locus of racialization in the context of post-WWII Japanese North American communities. The third and fourth chapters of The Racial Mundane risk dissipation of the racial mundane’s analytic specificity into ethnographic markers of difference more generally, though they nevertheless remain deft, compelling readings. The study of Elizabeth Wong’s Kimchee and Chitlins (1990) and Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994) focuses on the ethics of representing Black/Korean conflict through cross-racial impersonation, but here the ‘racial mundane’ encompasses ‘gestures, mannerisms, and speech of others’ (p. 126) rather than racialized domestic labor, as it had in the first two chapters (and additionally, comparatively little attention is given to the specificities of Black racialization). Similarly, Kim’s focus on Justin Lin’s film Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) examines the doubling of the model minority and the yellow peril within Asian American masculinity, but that which registers as ‘mundane’ could be read more generally as cultural markers of assimilation. However, this chapter deftly concludes with an analysis of Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman (2008), whose farcical deployment of a coolie by an assimilated Chinese American family bookends brilliantly with the Property Man in the first chapter, with the ‘racial shadow’ (pp. 180–81) of abject Asianness once again represented by the (outsourced) quotidian. In her conclusion, Kim gestures towards the digital humanities, noting the rise of Asian American YouTube stars and the centrality of the mundane in such online personalities as ‘kevjumba’ and Michelle Phan, poignantly demonstrating the continued, contemporary resonance of the (aestheticized) racial mundane within Asian American subjectivity, while also notably critiquing such stars’ reliance on masculine heteronormativity. Kim’s invaluable contribution opens avenues for new inquiries: for example, to what degree can the racial mundane itself be read as queer or heteronormative and what historical circumstances prompt its shift? Furthermore, how can the racial mundane inspire new scholarship of comparative racialization? Does the racial mundane play an equal or subordinate role to what Frantz Fanon termed ‘the epidermal racial schema’ when applied to Blackness? In any event, Ju Yon Kim’s The Racial Mundane should rightfully leave a lasting imprint in Asian American performance and theatre scholarship for years to come.
My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian be... more My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian behavior many Asian women recognize: the silencing of herself. It is difficult to locate Kim’s voice in this complex text among the layers of theorists and artists. I respect the desire to let the work speak for itself, but I found myself longing to get to know the author and her experiences and insights better. In undergraduate curricula, Kim’s book could serve multiple purposes. The book would be a great foundational text for an introductory Asian American studies or race and ethnic studies course. For an upper-division performance theory course, it would be a useful text on intersections of identity and theatre. The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday is complex and layered and can be consumed alone or paired with other texts to create a meaningful experience.
The present oral paper aims to contribute to the critical discourse of British Asian identity. Th... more The present oral paper aims to contribute to the critical discourse of British Asian identity. The British Asian identity is often termed as colonial as well as postcolonial by the scholars in the field. The four-year project funded by AHRC at the Department of Drama, University of Exeter has documented the history of the British Asian Theatre. The project provided critical insights into the theatre productions. However, through my readings of scholarly published material and my own critical investigation during my research project at the Department of Drama, University of Exeter raised some vital questions. Such as what remains 'Asian' in British Asians and what 'Britishness' is gain if at all, how to map their identity based on their value systems (if any) and what kind of language do British Asian theatre practitioners employ to refer to their diasporic Indian identity. I wish to throw open to the wider audience and seek to answer possibilities along with my own a...
The world literature has seen the tradition of oppression, suffering, violence and pain. The lite... more The world literature has seen the tradition of oppression, suffering, violence and pain. The literature has become means of vomiting out the anger and frustration and pain of the oppressed ones known as marginal identity. Years of suppression and suffering has not deterred these identities to take a pen and prove that their voice can’t be marginalized in the world of rhetoric. There have been significant literary movements surfacing the world literature which have produced a special class of literary talent. These classes have been the guiding light for the new oppressed and oppressors. Education and spread of such literature have given voice of such people all over the world. The present paper tries to capture these voices in a comparative point of view. ‘The Outcast’ by Sharankumar Limbale and the autobiography by Malcom X provide a good ground work for comparative critics. Both these texts are considered to be the milestones in the respective literatures. Indian Dalit literature has grabbed the attention of the readers all over the world. Black literature has been the guiding the light for the world as it is seen by the critics today. These two texts are analyzed based on the family life, struggle they have faced, cultural obstacles fought with and their power of raising voice against the Oppressed. Another aspect of the inquiry would be the instances of touching humanness and compassion that enlightens the reader across the boundaries. The paper aims have used words to make their impact in the society at large.
Purpose This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education ... more Purpose This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-based English textbooks and question papers in developing second-language higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Design/methodology/approach Descriptive analysis establishes a causal relationship between learning objectives and second language (L2) writing proficiency. Content analysis is used to compare and analyze tabulated data for textbooks and question papers for the English language by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and CBSE. This method categorizes the materials and their assessments under HOTS and lower-order thinking skills to ascertain the relationship between learning objectives and L2 writing proficiency. Findings The study highlights teaching material and assessment shortcomings and their alignment with learning outcomes to enhance students' writing skills. It underscores the need for HOTS-focused materials, discussing their impact...
My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian be... more My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian behavior many Asian women recognize: the silencing of herself. It is difficult to locate Kim’s voice in this complex text among the layers of theorists and artists. I respect the desire to let the work speak for itself, but I found myself longing to get to know the author and her experiences and insights better. In undergraduate curricula, Kim’s book could serve multiple purposes. The book would be a great foundational text for an introductory Asian American studies or race and ethnic studies course. For an upper-division performance theory course, it would be a useful text on intersections of identity and theatre. The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday is complex and layered and can be consumed alone or paired with other texts to create a meaningful experience.
This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses... more This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses. The PhD thesis described in the case study seeks to develop a new analytical model based on the theory of Rasa aesthetics
Learning outcomes After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be abl... more Learning outcomes After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be able to develop an understanding of how to identify female leadership competencies; analyze social and psychological barriers to developing female leadership; and consider various solutions to build trust in rural settings by overcoming social and psychological barriers. Case overview/synopsis In 2022, Mrs Anjaria, the Managing Director, and Mr Anjaria, the Chairperson of the Rangoli Group of Institutions in Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India), were facing the challenge of how to empower thousands of females in the preschool venture in the rural area as they could see the impact of their female edupreneurs in the urban area. Both had worked up the ladder in the preschool venture after quitting their professional careers in the corporate world. They now wanted to create female edupreneurs to empower women and bring about social and educational change at the grassroots level. They needed to make an ...
This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses... more This case study looks at the data challenges around capturing and documenting emotional responses. The PhD thesis described in the case study seeks to develop a new analytical model based on the theory of Rasa aesthetics
This thesis tests a newly developed model based on the Natyashastra, an Indian treatise on perfor... more This thesis tests a newly developed model based on the Natyashastra, an Indian treatise on performing arts, and uses this for theatrical analysis in the contexts of British Asian theatre productions and contemporary Indian theatre in English. The study offers a tool that can provide an alternative model of analysis. By extending the existing analytical models, we can ask questions concerning the actors' emotional manifestation and their mental state while acting. This thesis attempts to interpret the actors' gestures and provides a structure to analyse them. In order to do that, this project uses the Natyashastra and rasa/bhava concepts as performance analysis tools, which might provide an alternate perspective to theatre analysis. The thesis reviews existing models of theatrical analysis and argues for an alternative model in Chapter One. It examines the analysis of theatre productions by scholars of British Asian theatre and contemporary Indian theatre in English in Chapter Two. Here, I review the ways in which scholars of British South Asian theatre have examined theatrical productions so far. Chapter Three tests the proposed model on four theatre productions, illustrating the ways in which theatre productions could be analysed, and identifies the model's limitations and advantages. Chapter Four discusses findings in the light of the results analysed in Chapter Three; it also outlines some questions which needs further investigation. By doing so, this thesis contributes to the field of performance analysis and theatre studies by developing strong links between the manifestation of the actors' bodymind, the directors' reception after their first reading of a play's text, and playwrights' initial emotions within the text, through production analysis. 9 A term coined by Zarrilli, which I will discuss later in the due course. 10 Prague School of Linguistics introduced semiotic theory to theatre and performance, see Jindrich Honzl's 'Dynamics of the Sign in the Theatre' and Jiri Veltrusky's 'Dramatic Text as a Component of Theatre. Chapter One: Existing Models of Theatre Analysis, the Natyashastra, and a Proposed Model Chapter Five, 'Preliminaries of a Play', deals with the concept of purvaranga (prologue), comprising dance compositions and song recitations to please gods and demons. The sutradhara (stage manager) adores Brahma 29 with dhurva songs, and in doing do announces the subject of the drama, sets the tone for the opening scene, and serves as a bridge between the audience and the world of the play. Chapters Six, 'Sentiments', and Seven, 'The Emotional and Other States', examine the fundamental emotional concepts and aesthetics of rasabhava. These two chapters are discussed separately later in this section. Chapters Eight, Nine, and Ten codify body language and hand gestures, while Chapters Eleven to Fourteen address movement and steps. Bharata provides an extensive repertoire of sitting postures and steps to suit gender, character, occasion, mood, and dramatic situation (Ibid., p. 68). Chapters Fifteen, Sixteen, and Nineteen set out the rules of prosody, metrical patterns, modes of address and intonation, respectively. Chapters Seventeen, Twenty, and Twenty-seven identify the marks of a good play, genres of plays, and success of plays in dramatic productions. Chapter Eighteen focuses on the rules for use of language, and the subject of chapter twenty-one is plot (see Table 44). Chapter Twenty-two addresses the different Vrtti (styles). Chapters Twenty-three and Twenty-four address the aharyaabhinaya 30 , and refer to the use of make-up, costume/adornment for males and females, property, masks, minimal set design, and special representation such as seasons, forest and animals. Chapter Twenty-five focuses on different kinds of representation, temperament, and emotions represented in different ways. Chapter Twenty-six describes dealing with courtesans (dancers in courts). Chapters Twenty-seven to Thirty-three deal with music, musical instruments, rhythm and metrical cycles, and the qualities, origins, and nature of songs. Bharata argues, "That which cannot be expressed through speech should not be expressed through song" (Bharata, 1950, p. 147). 29 According to the Hindu religion, Brahma is the Creator of the Universe, depicted as sitting on a lotus. 30 Literal translation acting with decorated body and stage and I will explain further in the due course.
Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 2021
A simple google search for books on online teaching results in hundreds of choices. Given that fo... more A simple google search for books on online teaching results in hundreds of choices. Given that for almost a year now, most of the instruction in schools and colleges has been online, it is not a surprise. And, as with any major event like this, everyone who thinks has something to offer, will do so. It then becomes the duty of us professors to sift through, and hone in on the signal from all the noise that accompanies the topic. Like so many of the faculty who had to switch from a brick-and-mortar classroom to online teaching in March of 2020, my primary focus at that time was to ensure that the content is made available to students. At that time, there was limited time to explore all the features that video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) offered. I am one of the 1.5 million faculty in degree granting institutions (Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty, 2020), who, along with 3.5 million K-12 teachers (Digest of Education Statistics, 2019) had to switch to online education over the past year. To improve the techniques that I have been using and reading about, talking to colleagues about and tweaking my lectures and assignments, I decided to identify a relevant and comprehensive book. This book, Teaching in the Online Classroom: Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal by Doug Lemov and the Teach Like A ChampionTM (TLAC) team (Lemov, 2020), is one of the more insightful books that I have recently read indepth. It uses examples and videos that include explanations of the “why” and the “how” of the teaching techniques in the virtual classroom. At the outset itself the authors note that the new normal is not just about embracing technology, there is a lot more to it. The insertion of the screen between the students and the teacher causes several issues including loss of attention, engagement, motivation, accountability, amongst other challenges. The teacher must transcend the screen by minimizing the separation that it inherently holds – what the authors call “dissolving their screen” – and establish meaningful routines and procedures. The authors put the reader at ease by talking about their struggles with learning all the features that Zoom offers. They balance the use of technology with pedagogical adaptations. They explain their approach by breaking down the concepts, providing multiple examples, and still keep the humility by making no proclamations that they have found the best methods for online teaching. The discussion about the human brain and learning techniques in an online environment is a good reminder for all teachers. Anecdotal examples provide specific information about the teachers whose expertise in a given area. This helps the reader identify with them more. They seem “real”, making it easier for the reader to connect with them, and thus wanting to adopt their practices. The book, if seen as one of the best practices for online teaching, is a good one. It does not offer any new concepts. However, in defense of the authors it is difficult to offer best practices, since there is so much already available for all to follow. I am glad that I read the book and have recommended it to colleagues because this book provides us the
ethnographic aspect of the play’, whose performance consists primarily of ‘minor mannerisms’ and ... more ethnographic aspect of the play’, whose performance consists primarily of ‘minor mannerisms’ and other quotidian, mundane behaviors (p. 46). The innovative and orientalist deployment of the Property Man, according to Kim, ‘enabled white American audiences to see the Chinese and to see as the Chinese’ (p. 49, emphasis in original), arrestingly suggesting the performativity of the racial optic itself. Convincingly, Kim traces the aesthetic device of the Property Man to Wilder’s Our Town, suggesting that the racial mundane was not only pivotal to the racialization of the turn-of-the-century Chinese, but also the aesthetics of twentiethcentury American theatre. Kim’s racial mundane gains additional depth in the second chapter, which focuses on Tea (1987) by hapa Japanese American playwright Velina Hasu Houston and Itsuka (1992) by Japanese Canadian novelist Joy Kogawa. Drawing from Victor Turner’s foundational work on ritual, Kim argues that everyday ritual within these two critically underappreciated works ‘dynamically materializes communal ties as an oppositional response to the dual imperatives of racialization and assimilation’ (p. 76). Thus, juxtaposed with the first chapter, the racial mundane becomes equally a technology for resistance as a locus of racialization in the context of post-WWII Japanese North American communities. The third and fourth chapters of The Racial Mundane risk dissipation of the racial mundane’s analytic specificity into ethnographic markers of difference more generally, though they nevertheless remain deft, compelling readings. The study of Elizabeth Wong’s Kimchee and Chitlins (1990) and Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994) focuses on the ethics of representing Black/Korean conflict through cross-racial impersonation, but here the ‘racial mundane’ encompasses ‘gestures, mannerisms, and speech of others’ (p. 126) rather than racialized domestic labor, as it had in the first two chapters (and additionally, comparatively little attention is given to the specificities of Black racialization). Similarly, Kim’s focus on Justin Lin’s film Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) examines the doubling of the model minority and the yellow peril within Asian American masculinity, but that which registers as ‘mundane’ could be read more generally as cultural markers of assimilation. However, this chapter deftly concludes with an analysis of Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman (2008), whose farcical deployment of a coolie by an assimilated Chinese American family bookends brilliantly with the Property Man in the first chapter, with the ‘racial shadow’ (pp. 180–81) of abject Asianness once again represented by the (outsourced) quotidian. In her conclusion, Kim gestures towards the digital humanities, noting the rise of Asian American YouTube stars and the centrality of the mundane in such online personalities as ‘kevjumba’ and Michelle Phan, poignantly demonstrating the continued, contemporary resonance of the (aestheticized) racial mundane within Asian American subjectivity, while also notably critiquing such stars’ reliance on masculine heteronormativity. Kim’s invaluable contribution opens avenues for new inquiries: for example, to what degree can the racial mundane itself be read as queer or heteronormative and what historical circumstances prompt its shift? Furthermore, how can the racial mundane inspire new scholarship of comparative racialization? Does the racial mundane play an equal or subordinate role to what Frantz Fanon termed ‘the epidermal racial schema’ when applied to Blackness? In any event, Ju Yon Kim’s The Racial Mundane should rightfully leave a lasting imprint in Asian American performance and theatre scholarship for years to come.
My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian be... more My only caveat with this book is one that Kim herself might identify as a pernicious quotidian behavior many Asian women recognize: the silencing of herself. It is difficult to locate Kim’s voice in this complex text among the layers of theorists and artists. I respect the desire to let the work speak for itself, but I found myself longing to get to know the author and her experiences and insights better. In undergraduate curricula, Kim’s book could serve multiple purposes. The book would be a great foundational text for an introductory Asian American studies or race and ethnic studies course. For an upper-division performance theory course, it would be a useful text on intersections of identity and theatre. The Racial Mundane: Asian American Performance and the Embodied Everyday is complex and layered and can be consumed alone or paired with other texts to create a meaningful experience.
The present oral paper aims to contribute to the critical discourse of British Asian identity. Th... more The present oral paper aims to contribute to the critical discourse of British Asian identity. The British Asian identity is often termed as colonial as well as postcolonial by the scholars in the field. The four-year project funded by AHRC at the Department of Drama, University of Exeter has documented the history of the British Asian Theatre. The project provided critical insights into the theatre productions. However, through my readings of scholarly published material and my own critical investigation during my research project at the Department of Drama, University of Exeter raised some vital questions. Such as what remains 'Asian' in British Asians and what 'Britishness' is gain if at all, how to map their identity based on their value systems (if any) and what kind of language do British Asian theatre practitioners employ to refer to their diasporic Indian identity. I wish to throw open to the wider audience and seek to answer possibilities along with my own a...
The world literature has seen the tradition of oppression, suffering, violence and pain. The lite... more The world literature has seen the tradition of oppression, suffering, violence and pain. The literature has become means of vomiting out the anger and frustration and pain of the oppressed ones known as marginal identity. Years of suppression and suffering has not deterred these identities to take a pen and prove that their voice can’t be marginalized in the world of rhetoric. There have been significant literary movements surfacing the world literature which have produced a special class of literary talent. These classes have been the guiding light for the new oppressed and oppressors. Education and spread of such literature have given voice of such people all over the world. The present paper tries to capture these voices in a comparative point of view. ‘The Outcast’ by Sharankumar Limbale and the autobiography by Malcom X provide a good ground work for comparative critics. Both these texts are considered to be the milestones in the respective literatures. Indian Dalit literature has grabbed the attention of the readers all over the world. Black literature has been the guiding the light for the world as it is seen by the critics today. These two texts are analyzed based on the family life, struggle they have faced, cultural obstacles fought with and their power of raising voice against the Oppressed. Another aspect of the inquiry would be the instances of touching humanness and compassion that enlightens the reader across the boundaries. The paper aims have used words to make their impact in the society at large.
Purpose This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education ... more Purpose This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-based English textbooks and question papers in developing second-language higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Design/methodology/approach Descriptive analysis establishes a causal relationship between learning objectives and second language (L2) writing proficiency. Content analysis is used to compare and analyze tabulated data for textbooks and question papers for the English language by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and CBSE. This method categorizes the materials and their assessments under HOTS and lower-order thinking skills to ascertain the relationship between learning objectives and L2 writing proficiency. Findings The study highlights teaching material and assessment shortcomings and their alignment with learning outcomes to enhance students' writing skills. It underscores the need for HOTS-focused materials, discussing their impact...
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Papers by Mrunal Chavda