Connections of Space and Place

     We are already halfway through our time here in Varanasi, which seems impossible.  Irfana and the Kahani cast have already mounted one production of the play, in a very well-appointed cultural center on the Ganges, founded by a business woman from Calcutta, who has retired here and is attempting to create some kind of a cross-roads for leadership, intellectual work and art.

     NIRMAN founder Nita Kumar notes that like all spaces created by those of us in positions of power, it is a true challenge to create a space that engages people of all classes, castes and experiences, and this Center is experiencing these tensions through its emergent programming.  This is an excellent challenge to consider as the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership breaks ground on its new building, which is certain to attract phenomenal scholars and activists to all kinds of conversation and projects over the years.  Nita and I have been putting our heads together talking about NIRMAN’s work to create a vibrant, liberating cross-class, cross-caste learning environment and Kalamazoo College’s aim to do the same.

     Kahani was performed for NIRMAN staff, largely women teachers in the program, and comments after the show were extremely appreciative of the care taken with the story, the interpretation, the attempt to inhabit and perform nuances of Indian cultural and family life while exploring issues of gender and power.

     The day after the show, Irfana led the cast in an excellent debrief that considered the “how” of this.  I shared two elements that boded well for the production in terms of social justice values and tools:  first, the architect of the project, it’s ‘leader’ – was grounded in Indian culture and power dynamics by virtue of having lived them.  This is a key social justice technology:  movements for justice are led by the people impacted by these injustices.   Those of us not grounded in these contexts or primarily impacted by them can work as agents of change in solidarity.  And in effect, this theatre project demonstrates how art can make change within a cross-cultural solidarity model.

     Second, the theatre techniques that Irfana fore grounded in the project required all of the actors to take the moments and tensions in the play and rake through their own stories for moments of connection, divergence and intersection.  How have issues of gender and power shaped my family?  My view of myself?  When do I resist gendered expectations of myself and when do I capitulate to socially constructed limits of gender “propriety” and abandon who I am?  And when I do yield, is this always a bad thing?  A key developmental tool in becoming a strong social justice leader is the ability to recognize when and how the discussion or project on a structural injustice is bumping into or triggering a reaction to the way this injustice has played out in the formation of our families, communities, psyches, and spirits.

     So many of our conversations here have been rich and rewarding.  I am so excited about how much these actors will contribute to the artistic, intellectual and daily life of our campus community in the years ahead because of the Kahani experience.

Jaime Grant