Product details
- ISBN 9781032427133
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 28 Sep 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book seeks to foreground mobile theatre as an integral part of the modern Assamese public sphere and public culture. Mobile theatre groups in Assam perform their plays by travelling across the state, and are often seen as an assertion of Assamese identity in the face of increasing globalisation.
The book interrogates whether mobile theatre can be read as a counter-public, articulating in some sense a non-elite culture, where members of subordinated social groups are dominant. It also highlights mobile theatre’s unique position as a counter-public that is mediated and commercial. The intersection between the two forms of public - the counter-public and public culture - underscores this volume. It is not just a 'rational-critical' public but also one that 'consumes' and is 'mediatised'. The book suggests that mobile theatre occupies features of a counter-public but is a part of the larger Assamese public culture.
Drawing on fieldwork-based methods, this book highlights the larger structural relationship between theatre, society and technology. It will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, theatre studies, performance studies and media studies.
Rituparna Patgiri is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati. Her research interests lie in exploring questions of culture, food, media, gender and pedagogy. She served as the Associate Editor of Society, a journal, from 2023 to 2025. She is the Convenor of the Ad Hoc Group 01 – Food, Culture and Society of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS). Patgiri is one of the co-founders of Doing Sociology and a Guest Academic Editor of PLOS Global Public Health. She has two published books to her credit - Food, Culture, and Society in India: Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives (2026) and Sociology of Gender in India: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives (2026). She has received The International Centre Goa's (ICG) Scholars-in-Residency award for 2026 for this book project.
