A Critical History of the Indian Circus

This book maps the history of circus practice in colonial and post-colonial India, locating it as a unique genre within a larger field of cultural practice. It facilitates a close study of acts, performers, and performances, both historically and in the contemporary repertoire, with changing patterns of migration. At the centre of the research remains the debate which on the one hand labels the circus as The Greatest Show on Earth against its contrasting narrative as a marginal form and even an exploitive entity towards animals and child performers. Cosmopolitanism, actor network theories, phenomenology, feminist, gender, and the postcolonial discourse are some of the theoretical frameworks which enable and inform this reading of the distinct circus practice in India.