Abstract
Through a methodology that I term ‘embodied philology’, I trace a genealogy of mazaa as an understanding of enjoyment calibrated through the indices of taste and time. Using this genealogy to mark out an ‘alegropolitics’, or a politics of happiness, I extract its political potential in two ways: first, by assessing it through scholarship on the archive, repertoire, and what Spanish calls sabor, and, second, by applying these ideas, gleaned largely through scholarship from Latin America, to the assessment of Bollywood’s masala repertoire and film star Govinda’s role therein. Govinda’s subscription to a Bhojpuri performativity leads me to relocate mazaa within a decolonising agenda for pleasure formed through transnational and cross-border communities united by an embodied memory of collective enjoyment. A vignette from the 2018–19 Kochi-Muziris Biennale allows me to demonstrate how such memory may be activated to transform the present.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.