The Many Uses of Censorship: Cultural Regulation on Tamasha in Maharashtra

Abstract:

This paper is a historical and conceptual inquiry into the nature of performance censorship and resistance, particularly in the context of subaltern “folk” forms, and its relationship to the archive. All censorial gestures also serve as archival ones, insofar as legislating censorship necessitates the generation of a collated record of objectionable material. However, this paper argues that in certain cases—like that of tamasha, a popular performance form in Maharashtra—this kind of archival windfall is not simply an accidental consequence, but is fundamental to the way censorship is imagined and posited: as an actively preservatory, rather than prohibitive, force. Assembling accounts from government reports, censor files, magazine articles, memoirs, and oral histories, I trace how this archival discourse around censorship was articulated and enforced, and examine its impact, on modern tamasha historiography, in particular, and on institutionalized cultural regulation in the region at large. I argue that the re-framing of censorship as “preservative” imposed severe limitations on the possibilities for resistance, and consequently paved the way for the enduring appropriation of tamasha along caste and class lines.