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Author Jassal, Smita Tewari.

Title Unearthing gender : folksongs of North India / Smita Tewari Jassal
Published Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2012
©2012

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Description 1 online resource (296 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents The daily grind -- Singing bargains -- Biyah / Biraha : emotions in a rite of passage -- Sita's trials -- When war is marriage -- Taking liberties
Summary This book is a compelling ethnographic analysis of folksongs sung primarily by lower-caste women in north India, in the fields, at weddings, during travels, and in other settings. Smita Tewari Jassal uses these songs to explore how ideas of caste, gender, sexuality, labor, and power may be strengthened, questioned, and fine-tuned through music. At the heart of the book is a library of songs, in their original Bhojpuri and in English translation, framed by Jassal's insights into the complexities of gender and power. The significance of these folksongs, Jassal argues, lies in their suggesting and hinting at themes, rather than directly addressing them: women sing what they often cannot talk about. Women's lives, their feelings, their relationships, and their social and familial bonds are persuasively presented in song. For the ethnographer, the songs offer an entry into the everyday cultures of marginalized groups of women who have rarely been the focus of systematic analytical inquiry
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes In English
This work is licensed by Knowledge Unlatched under a Creative Commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
Print version record
Subject Folk songs, Bhojpuri -- India, North -- History and criticism
Music -- Social aspects -- India, North
Anthropology.
Social and cultural anthropology, ethnography Mod Social and cultural anthropology, ethnography.
Society and social sciences Society and social sciences.
Sociology and anthropology.
MUSIC -- Printed Music -- General.
MUSIC -- Printed Music -- General.
Folk songs, Bhojpuri
Manners and customs
Music -- Social aspects
SUBJECT India, North -- Social life and customs
Subject North India
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780822394792
0822394790
1280119616
9781280119613
9786613523655
6613523658