Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance uniquely views the role and function of drama and performance in the practice of nationalism and anti-colonial resistance, drawing connections between art and politics, between performance and everyday experience.
Nandi Bhatia argues that Indian theater was a central force in the struggle against oppressive colonial and postcolonial structures, as it sought to undo various schemes of political and cultural power through its engagement with subjects derived from mythology, history, and available colonial models such as Shakespeare. One of the first western studies of Indian theater to link the aesthetics and the politics of that theater, Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance combines in-depth archival research with close readings of dramatic texts performed at critical moments in history.
Nandi Bhatia is Associate Professor of English, University of Western Ontario.