Welsh and Khasi Cultural Dialogues

Abstract

This short essay is an opening statement for the research project, 'Welsh and Khasi Cultural Dialogues: An Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance Project', funded by The Leverhulme Trust that explores the starting point for an investigation into the cultural dialogues between the Welsh and Khasi peoples of northeast India. This is a relationship established through missionary contact in the mid nineteenth century, and one that has persisted beyond the closure of the mission into a relationship of cultural exchange. The project's particular standpoint stems from the understanding that the modes of exchange between the Welsh and Khasis are inseparable from the location of both communities at the edges of empire. The article begins by enquiring about the scope and the forms of encounters between peoples of different cultures through colonialism and proceeds to consider how performance in the broadest sense might offer a lens through which we may critically explore these encounters and cultural relationships. The article proceeds to explain how performative documentary and live performance may be used as approaches that enable a dialogue across cultures and between peoples.

Notes

1 This essay can be read as an opening statement for this research project, funded by The Leverhulme Trust. Further information can be found on the project website http://www.welshkhasidialogues.co.uk.

2 The report’s nickname refers to the colour of its binding. This title is usually incorporated into the phrase ‘the treachery (or treason) of the Blue Books’, signifying the defamation of the Welsh people, particularly women, within this government report and conveying the hostility it engendered.

3 A memorandum drafted by T. B. Macaulay recommending that English was to be the language of education in Indian schools, prior to the English Education Act (1935).

4 Kosambi’s emphasis on the materialist approach arose from an understanding of the difference of Indian history from the established canons of European histories. He asserted that India, unlike Europe, did not have a history based on dynastic episodes. Arguing that India was a unique country of long survivals, he held that multiple historical periods could be seen operating simultaneously in India (1975: 8).