THE ADVENT OF ASIAN CENTURY IN FOLKLorE - Wiki - National ...

FOLKLORE AND CREATIVITYperformer’s intention or the user’s interest. The latter’screative process displayed in the performance may differfrom the ethnographer’s interpretative performance. Theethnographer’s logic ought to be clearly stated. Theethnographer no less than the performer avails of thematerial at his disposal.Pravina Shukla presented as a process of creativity thechoice of jewels by women in Benares jewellers’ shopsto adorn their body. Jewels are matched with the dress,the shoes, the demeanour, the complexion and theimage of one’s body. The choice reflects the wealth ofthe family, a sense of beauty and others’ liking. Theresult is a performance of sorts: the creation of a selfportraitresulting from a reflection on oneself and one’sappearance often with reference to film actresses whosephotos are exhibited as models of beauty on the wallof the shop. In short anelaborate process and anumber of moments ofcreation and gendercollaboration with malevendors are prompted bya wish to look fit, a feelingof self-esteem, a sense ofpower and control overthe situation, ultimatelyan ability to achievesomething.The purely descriptiveapproach raised as e r i o u smethodologicalquestion that of atotal lack ofanalyticalframework tostructure theobservation anddocument theprocess of body adornment.A decision was to be made in this regard andneed to be stated by the ethnographer. Documentationis more than mere superficial exhibition. The study ofeveryday life style cannot be a scientific attempt ofconstruction of folk knowledge without deciding uponthe concepts of references most appropriate to the objectof study. These might have been of a triple nature inthe given example: (1) the concepts adequate to a minuteobservation of practices such as those of taste, smell,beauty, sense of colours and physical forms, etc. withreference to various parameters such as age, positionin the family, education, etc., (2) the norms- Thedeterminant point is that the analysis cannot avoidconsidering the location of the performance in the givencultural, social and political environment: bodyadornment creates a female social form. In this respectit might prove difficult to construe the possibility ofchoice offered to high middle-class women as a creativeKherati Ram Bhatt’s home-puppet showpotentiality. It might more appropriately be studied asan aggregate of distinctive class markers. All jewels areprovided by the market and designed by some one else,none of them at the initiative of the women performer/customer who looks like a complacent puppet in thecontrol of various external agencies; she selects on thebasis of criteria alien to her own decision (the tastes,wishes and reactions of husband, in-laws, relatives andthe distinctive aesthetics of her class). The range ofinitiative opened by the choice to be made is as muchlimited as conditioned by constraints accepted as therules of the game. Categories of imitation and socialreproduction would give a better account of the processunder consideration.Creolization: creativity in cultural convergenceWhen people of different languages come together, theyrenegotiate their culture. Lee Haring in the islands ofthe Indian Ocean studied this process of creativity byconvergence: Madagascar, Mauritius, La Reunion,Seychelles and Comoros. The process called creolizationcan be defined as the mixing of two or more languagesin specific situation of social and traditional contact,which often contains power differences. Mauritian creolegrew out of the impact of French and slaves in an islandpopulated now by Indians (two thirds), the descendantsof former slaves (one fourth) with a Chinese minorityof shopkeepers. All had to come to terms with eachother, especially out of the necessity of labour relations.(See Lee Haring’s article in this issue-Editor)Why folklore?Though no debate took place on this central issue,several kinds of considerations were made. On the onehand, Hentry Glassie boldly assigned to the workshopand specifically to Asian scholars the task of rebuildingthe discipline of folklore in a way suiting Asiancommunities, right at the beginning. On the other hand,Kapila Vatsyayan reminded everybody that the wordcarries in India a historical load. It was imported as anepistemological weapon fitting other systems of thecolonisers’ knowledge, science, administration andgovernance. Folklore is in India is a marker of thecolonial moment in the history of the sub-continent.Since then it has applied to phenomena categorised andconstructed with reference to Western-Europeanepistemological models of the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies. The theoretical concepts of these modelswere simply transferred and grafted on an Indian socialconfiguration which was itself structured by aliensociological and anthropological categories (for instanceclear cut distinction of hunters, gatherers, tribes, villagesocieties, etc.). Kapila Vatsyayan stressed the fact thatthese categories have permeated our discourses. The theoreticalframework that we have received has inevitably chalked outour perceptions of traditions, our people and ourselves. Theprescriptions of the language obviously bear upon our21INDIAN FOLKLIFE VOLUME 1 ISSUE 5 APRIL 2001