Revisiting Cultural Theory Through Baiga Dance-Songs

Abstract

Cultural theory is assumed to be a tool or set of ideas to explain, interpret or analyse cultures or cultural realities. The realisation of embracing and internalising theory as a kind of transcendental signifier, within and beyond our undertaking at the same time, fixes our attention on the validity and prevalence that theory has gained in academic circles. Its ubiquity is perhaps its strength, which sustains it and makes it indispensable across disciples. However, theory has its own internal functioning, often stopping it from achieving the desired results. There is a constant need to weigh theories before we use them as tools to analyse something. The central concern of this article is to interrogate the validity and legitimacy of cultural theory to deal with problems arising in contextualising cultural theories to frame Baiga dance-songs and consequent issues arising out of it. The article points out an inherent discrepancy in cultural theory through Biaga dance-songs.