Dario Fo: The Articulate Representative of the Inarticulate Culture

Authors

  • Farhan Ahmad Department of English Studies, Faculty of Indian and Foreign Languages, Akal University Talwandi Sabo, 151302, Punjab, India
  • Sohaib Alam Department of English, College of Sciences and Humanities in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University Abdullah Bin Amer Street, 16278, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2022.1.273.284

Keywords:

hegemony , polemics, politics, culture, cultural consensus

Abstract

Aim. The proposed study examines the subversive polemics of Fo’s theatre which serves as a catalyst for social, political and cultural change. It aims to foreground the revolutionary politics of Fo who uses theatre to combat the oppressive system bringing to fore the working-class struggle for a classless society. The present study will be done with the help of the analysis of Fo’s select plays. These plays will be interpreted using the Gramscian framework of cultural consensus, an enabling provision of authority and control and the role of intellectuals in countering the same.

Concept. The paper underlines the significance of art in facilitating a deeper understanding of the complex social realities of our world. The paper engages with the question of power and control, oppression and marginalisation as well as art and education as contextualised in Dario Fo’s theatre.

Results. Fo’s use of drama to humanize the history of Italian working classes tells us about the expedience of art to enage with matters most urgent. This tells us that art and culture can be an important link in the mobilization authoritarism.

Conclusion. A comprehensive discussion on power politics is presented in the paper with the aim of keeping people informed of the subtle working of these underlying structures which govern power relations in society.

Originality. The originality of the study is contingent on investigating into how power is acquired, legitimised, practised, and maintained, how it can be resisted and what role art and artists play in the construction, dissemination and opposition of it.

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Author Biographies

  • Farhan Ahmad, Department of English Studies, Faculty of Indian and Foreign Languages, Akal University Talwandi Sabo, 151302, Punjab, India

    Farhan Ahmad, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Indian and Foreign Language, Akal University, Punjab, India. His research interests include performance studies, modern European drama, cultural studies, gender studies and ESL/EFL pedagogy. 

  • Sohaib Alam, Department of English, College of Sciences and Humanities in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University Abdullah Bin Amer Street, 16278, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Dr. Sohaib Alam is currently working as an Assistant Professor of English at the Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He holds a Ph.D. in English Language Teaching (ELT) from Aligarh Muslim University, India. His areas of interest are Applied Linguistics, Pragmatics, Teaching Methods, Blended Learning, and Pedagogic Theory. He has presented papers at both national and international conferences, published research articles and papers in various indexed journals. He has been teaching English for over 3 years.

References

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Published

2022-06-30

How to Cite

Ahmad, F. ., & Alam, S. (2022). Dario Fo: The Articulate Representative of the Inarticulate Culture. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 13(1), 273-284. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2022.1.273.284

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