Body on the Barricades: Life, Art and Resistance in Contemporary India

Brahma Prakash's compelling book, "Body on the Barricades: Life, Art, and Resistance in Contemporary India" (LeftWord, 2023) delves into the interplay of life, art, and resistance in modern India, examining how the barricade emerges as both a symbol of excessive policing and a metaphor for containment. 

Prakash explores the harrowing experiences of marginalized identities and their fraught relationships with the State, unraveling these stories with the intensity of a horror tale. The book poignantly captures the impact of suppression on the victimized body, highlighting acts of breathing, mourning, dancing, singing, and other forms of creative expression as profound acts of resistance. Prakash ensures that every story of victimhood is given space for reflection, transforming passive suffering into active defiance.

About the speaker

Brahma Prakash teaches at the School of Arts and Aesthetics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the author of Cultural Labour: Conceptualizing the ‘Folk Performance’ in India (2019).

Image credit: Priyash Vasava via Unsplash