From The Colonial To The Carnival: An English Game And Its Indian Tale

<p>Research in colonial studies has traditionally revolved around the historical political and economic aspects of the colonial regime. The case is no different with the BrIt'sh Empire in India. The Empire was however built less by military force and more through cultural reinforcement. To this end the BrIt'sh engaged many tools “ religion language and sport. </p><p>Among the three Cs of Victorian England that defined civilisation Cricket stood on par with Christianity and the Classics. Beyond being a sport cricket was the Englishman's representation of his English-ness' in the colonies and a tool used for colonisation “ a scantily researched area. This book traces through the colonial postulates of Edward Said and Homi K. Bhabha the colonial path cricket took to its growth in the colony. </p><p>The game moved from the exclusivity' of the English to the mimicry' of the natives as a part of the informal modes of rule employed in a colonial framework. Once formal modes were employed in the Empire phases of cultural reinforcement' by the colonists followed by patronage' by the natives took over the spread of the game. Historical narratives are filled with examples supporting each phase in the sport. The very same tool that was used to establish the native's effeminacy' was used finally to invert the hegemony. The book argues how decolonisation in India's case did not occur through rejection' of the colonial culture but paradoxically through adaptation' and assimilation' in clear colonial terms. This discussion achieves recency and relevance through its exposition of the telling decolonising moves in cricket to subvert authority' through the IPL. Mikhail Bakhtin's' theory of the carnival helps view the shift of cricket from the colonial to the carnival mode. </p>