Centering Borders in Latin American and South Asian Contexts : Aesthetics and Politics of Cultural Production

This book presents inter-disciplinary research on contemporary borders with contributions from scholars and cultural practitioners located in different contexts in the Americas and South Asia. There has been significant sociological work on borders; however there is a relative dearth of humanities research on contemporary border realities, particularly in South Asia. This volume introduces frameworks of critical insights and knowledge on border narratives and cultural productions. It addresses and goes beyond the impact of the partition in South Asia to train a unique comparative and aesthetic lens on borders and borderlands in relation to Latin America and the U.S.A. through oral narratives, photographs, ‘objects’, films, theatre, journals, and songs. It maps border perspectives and their reception in a framework of cultural politics. It revolves around themes such as violence and modes of survival; women’s narratives of migration, trafficking and incarceration; abduction of children; vulnerability as experience; rationalities of mass killings; and proliferation of countercultures to map border perspectives in a framework of cultural politics. First of its kind, the volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of comparative literary and cultural studies, South Asian studies, Latin American studies, border studies, arts and aesthetics, visual studies, sociology, comparative politics, international relations, and peace and conflict resolution studies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Figures Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Note References Part I Oral Narratives: Experiencing Violence, Forging Modes of Survival 1 Mobility Across Borders, Continuums of Violence and Resistance Conceptualizing Violence Narratives of Violence Resistance and Love of Survival Conclusion Notes References Further Reading 2 Defying the Nation: Women’s Narratives of U.S.–Mexico and India–Bangladesh ‘Border’ Crossings Towards a Methodology of Understanding ‘Bordered Subjectivity’ Affect, Experience, and Truth: Close Readings of Oral Narratives ‘Bordered Subjectivity’ in the Context of Border Theorizations Note References Further Reading Part II Photography: The Ethics of ‘Evidence’ and Erasure/Elision 3 Abduction/Oblivion: Villafuerte’s Por El Lado Salvaje Notes 4 Witnessing and the Transformation of Self: Borders and the Violence of ‘Evidence’ Introduction Photography: ‘Anaesthetization By Evidence’ Truth Telling Witnessing Versus Viewing Note References Part III Cinematic Representations: Vulnerability as Experience and Metaphor 5 The Atlantic Borderlands: Container Politics, Social Death, and the Countercultures of Mexican Migrants Notes References 6 What Is the Kid Doing at the Border?: Some Thoughts On Representations of Children in Indian and Latin American Border-Themed Cinema Notes References Part IV Audio/Visual Languages of Perception: Humour and Satire – Subversion as Resistance 7 Humourizing Tension: Bengali Identity, Partition, and Borders I Ghoti and Bāngāl: Constructing a Cultural Binary Lost in Laughter: Bāngāl Language and Its Linguistic ‘Incompetence’ II ‘Laughter’ and ‘Unlaughter’: Subjectivity And/or Assertion of Bāngāl Identity Notes References 8 Chhitmahal: Subjectivity, Resistance, and Identities Notes Bibliography Part V Songs: Transformations of Identity Across Borders 9 Songs of Crossings: Searching for Ways of Listening to Arnold Bake’s 1934 Recordings of Sailors From Bengal The 1934 Recordings Go, Tell Him How She Burns in His Absence Changed Place-Name, Unchanged Song Crossing From One Home to Another: of Bari, Basha, Ghar, and Astana All Singers Are Sailors Notes 10 Surmounting Borders: The Corridos of Jenni Rivera Death as ‘A Completion of the Persona’. Fiction and Autobiography The Habitus of Jenni Rivera: ‘Chicago Lindo Y Querido’ The Ethical Conundrums of Jenni Rivera’s Narcocorridos The Legacy Notes References Part VI Performance: Challenging Rationalities of Mass Killings 11 What Is Lost and Regained in Staging Violent Realities: Thinking of Dear Earth...Hope You Are Keeping Well! Part I Part II Notes References Further Reading 12 Teatro Travieso and the Performance of Feminicide in Women of Ciudad Juárez Background History Staging the Show The Play The Tour Conclusions Appendix Notes Index "This book presents new frameworks of critical insights and knowledge on border narratives. It addresses and goes beyond the ways in which partition informs South Asian borderlands to focus on a comparative study of contemporary borders and borderlands in relation to Latin America and the USA border. Through oral narratives, photographs, 'objects', films, theatrical productions, journals, and songs, the volume discusses themes including violence and modes of survival; women's narratives of the US-Mexico and India-Bangladesh 'border'; issues of abduction; vulnerability as experience; countercultures of Mexican migrants; Bengali identity, partition and borders; and rationalities of mass killings, to map border perspectives in a framework of cultural politics. First of its kind, the volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of literary and cultural studies, South Asian studies, Latin American studies, border studies, arts and aesthetics, visual studies, political sociology, sociology, comparative politics, international relations, and peace and conflict resolution studies"-- Provided by publisher