Mazaa: Rethinking Fun, Pleasure and Play in South Asia

Abstract

The goal of this special section of South Asia is to generate new ways to describe and theorise mazaa, a Hindi-Urdu word that can mean fun, pleasure and play. Scholarly writing often treats fun and pleasure as either frivolous, and therefore irrelevant, or as symbols of a more important social phenomenon. At times, this is motivated by political critique; researchers often believe that entertainment necessarily supports the status quo. At other times, researchers avoid mazaa because we are sceptical of things that have an embodied pull on us. Indeed, mazaa is sensuous; it draws us in with its viscerality. Rather than see these qualities as obstacles, we argue that mazaa's embodied, unwieldly and seductive properties can generate new ways of knowing, analysing, critiquing and writing. Contributors to this section write on a wide range of topics-including, but not limited to, dance, fashion, food and flirting. Together, the essays demonstrate a methodology for making mazaa an optic. This methodology includes keeping mazaa centre stage, allowing oneself to be moved, maintaining an open-ended reading practice that allows for indeterminacy, and writing with an abundance of detail. Dwelling in mazaa does not mean ignoring inequalities, violence or power, but finding new ways of writing about the forms of life that thrive even in times of crisis. It also means illuminating how pleasure can generate new communities and political possibilities as well as new understandings of the role of the critic in social analysis.

“Everyone Wants to Feel Like a Movie Star”: Aesthetics, Work, Pleasure, and Caste in India

“…However, an interrogation of the category of pleasure is needed. In line with Anjaria and Anjaria (2020), I argue that pleasure is, in fact, the elusive category that must be investigated in “serious” sites of work. Work itself becomes a form of play , as do performances of caste, class, and gender.…”

When sarees speak: Saree pacts and social media narratives

“…I see strong connections uniting the methodological approaches proposed by Anjaria and Anjaria (2020) and Rybas and Gajjala (2007) with the framework offered by the ancient Indian tradition of aesthetics, or rasa theory, within which the critic is referred to as sahṛdaya – which translates to having a heart or being sensitive. Sundararajan and Raina propose the term ‘appreciative critic’, as one who can empathise with the literary, visual or performative work through becoming one (in spirit) with the creator (2016: 789).…”

“…Thus, a key challenge of such digital ethnographic projects is the positionality of the researcher as an authentic and active participant, on the one hand, and the need to maintain a critical objective distance during fieldwork, on the other. However, Anjaria and Anjaria argue that scholars of South Asia have often missed key aspects about everyday life and ‘how enjoyment is expressed, felt, imagined, spoken about and experimented with’ (2020: 234) or how ‘pleasure can generate new communities and political possibilities’ due to their strict adherence to set research methodologies and modes of critique (2020: 232). When academic studies do include topics around fun and pleasure, they attempt to explain or rationalise them through connecting them to something more serious.…”

“…When academic studies do include topics around fun and pleasure, they attempt to explain or rationalise them through connecting them to something more serious. Instead, they propose a ‘ mazedaar ’ 6 methodology that ‘disrupt[s] the myth of critical distance’ and gives ‘space to what brings pleasure’ (Anjaria and Anjaria, 2020: 237). They suggest that ‘loving or being overcome by a text, substance or activity’ (Anjaria and Anjaria, 2020: 236) as part of this methodology does not imply the absence of a critical stance, but instead can lead to ‘[illuminating] new understandings of post-colonial art, built environments, food, sexuality and cultural practice, at times showing how these worlds have political implications but also trying to understand them even when they do not’ (Anjaria and Anjaria, 2020: 237).…”

Staging joyful spectacles: Exploring the temporalities of positive affect in child-focused NGO programmes

“…In particular, I am interested in thinking about the ways in which we, as ethnographers of development, can better understand these emotions while remaining critical of, but also committed to these positive affects. While I remain mindful of Sara Ahmed’s (2010: 7) warning that: ‘If we have a duty to promote what causes happiness, then happiness itself becomes a duty,’ I also seek to acknowledge with Anjaria and Anjaria (2020) the embodied pull of fun, pleasure and happiness. Writing about mazaa ‘a Hindi-Urdu word that can mean fun, pleasure and play’ – Anjaria and Anjaria (2020: 232) argue that it is ‘ mazaa’ s embodied, unwieldy and seductive properties that can generate new ways of knowing, analysing, critiquing and writing’.…”