Comic Performance in Pakistan by Claire Pamment

This book explores comic performance in Pakistan through the vibrant Indo-Muslim tradition of the Punjabi bhand which now holds a marginal space in contemporary weddings. With irreverent repartee, genealogical prowess, a topsy-turvy play with hierarchies and shape shifting, the low-status bhand jostles space in otherwise rigid class and caste hierarchies. Tracing these negotiations in both historical and contemporary sites, the author unfolds a dynamic performance mode that travels from the Sanskrit jester and Sufi wise fool, into Muslim royal courts and households, weddings, contemporary carnivalesque and erotic popular Punjabi theatre and satellite television news. Through original historical and ethnographic research, this book brings to life hitherto unexplored territories of Pakistani popular culture and Indo-Muslim performance histories.



"Comic Performance in Pakistan is a high-calibre original contribution to the fields of Pakistan studies and performance studies. Claire Pamment admirably situates the comic performers of the bhand, or itinerant comedian, the ranga, or 'straight man', and the bighla, or clown, within a long and syncretic Hindu-Muslim history. The work is a model of detailed clarity and flair. It packs in a great many ideas within an admirably succinct structure." (Claire Chambers, University of York, UK) "This book shatters preconceptions about Muslim culture as deftly as do the comic performers it describes. Claire Pamment has written a landmark study of Pakistani comedians proving that the bhand tradition of popular comedy deserves the appreciation and respect granted to Italian Commedia dell'Arte, English Music Hall, and American Vaudeville. Pamment's rich descriptions and penetrating analysis brings these brilliant clowns to life as virtuoso chroniclers of absurdity, past and present." (Ron Jenkins, author of "Subversive Laughter: The Liberating Power of Comedy") "Claire Pamment's book is a ground-breaking account of the Punjabi bhand that makes an invaluable contribution to South Asian theatre and performance history and to an understanding of the politics of high and low culture. Analytically rigorous, the book's detailed and careful research is a convincing testament to the importance of a popular theatre form that has been relegated to the cultural margins." (Nandi Bhatia, author of "Acts of Authority"/ "Acts of Resistance: Theatre and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial India") "Defying closure and familiar binaries, this book, like the bhand tradition itself, celebrates the fluid play between Hinduism and Sufism, royal courts and the public bazaar, the centre and the margin, the traditional and the contemporary. Pamment's erudite scholarship is paired with an abiding appreciation for the artfulness and values of the licensed fools it describes. This is a superb addition to our all too limited knowledge of this lively tradition and its legacy, and a wonderful antidote to the now frequently conveyed impression of Islamic cultures as inherently inimical to humour." (John Emigh, Professor Emeritus, Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown University, USA and Founding Chairperson of the Association for Asian Performance)

About the Author
Claire Pamment is Assistant Professor of World Theatre in the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance at the College of William and Mary, USA; former Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Worship and the Arts Fellow (2015-16), and has taught at various universities in Pakistan. Her articles on South Asian performance, censorship, burlesque, comedy and transgendering have appeared in TDR, Comedy Studies and Asian Theatre Journal. She is Performance Reviews Editor for Ecumenica.


Reviews

"Claire Pamment's book Comic Performance in Pakistan: The Bhand (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) is a fantastic new book centered on the Punjabi folk art of the Bhand, or comic performance. ... This lyrically written book on a long-running and hugely important tradition of Islamicate humor will interest much scholars of Islam, South Asia, Anthropology, and Performance Studies." (SherAli Tareen, New Books network, newbooksnetwork.com, March 15, 2019)

"Claire Pamment's incisive research on comic performance in Pakistan, with specific reference to the Bhand, is an invaluable contribution to the scant scholarship on theatre and performance in the country. ... This book is immersive for the uninitiated reader, and expands the subject for scholars in the field of performance in Pakistan. A supporting glossary of terms and extensive notes in each chapter illuminate the subject at hand and provide contextual information comprehensively." (Asma Mundrawala, Theatre Research International, Vol. 43 (3), October, 2018)

"Pamment's book treats bhand as a living form, not a relic, with its own future and subversive possibilities that are commensurate with the creative capacity and imagination of performers. Pamment's book, thus, contributes something important to the ongoing project of drawing the study of theatrical performance out of its Euro-American orbit." (David Mason, Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 35 (2), 2018)

Book Information
ISBN 9781137566300
Author Claire Pamment
Format Hardback
Page Count 229
Imprint Palgrave Macmillan
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
Series Palgrave Studies in Comedy
Weight(grams) 457g