Caste and Communication: A Thematic Analysis of Bhojpuri Folk Songs of Bihar

Abstract

Abstract

Folk songs have an intrinsic value that provides an impetus to communicate ideas, cultural practices, values, beliefs, and norms among community members. One of the major components of folk songs is their community-based participation and representation of various issues affecting the community through words and music. This paper investigates communication through Bhojpuri folk songs sung by caste-based marginalised communities in Bihar. It assumes that folk songs are not mundane speech acts but rather discursive texts having multiple layers of meaning. The discursive structure of folk songs communicates the context in which they are formed and performed.

This study aims to answer the following research questions: What do subaltern communities communicate through their folk songs? In what ways do folk songs facilitate human agency to express lived experiences and social contexts? What are the limitations of the communicative aspect of folk songs?

Regarding methodology, a thematic and semantic analysis of the folk songs is carried out, with due consideration given to the sociocultural realities in which they originate and the messages they intend to convey. The study adopts a post-Heideggerian hermeneutic approach whereby the art of understanding the communicative power of folk songs extends beyond the song to its singers and the context in which it is performed. The paper argues that folk songs call for communicative creativity, where text, context, music, expression, cultural memory, and appropriation are interlinked.

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