Title Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance / Harshita Mruthinti Kamath

Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] ©2019

Click on the following:
JSTOR Open Access

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xv, 225 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents Occupying center stage : impersonation and the classicization of Kuchipudi -- "I am Satyabhama" : constructing hegemonic brahmin masculinity in the Kuchipudi village -- Constructing artifice, interrogating impersonation : Madhavi as vidūṣaka in village Bhamakalapam performance -- Bhamakalapam beyond the village : transgressing norms of gender and sexuality in urban and transnational Kuchipudi dance -- Longing to dance : stories of Kuchipudi brahmin women Summary "Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance centers on an insular community of Smarta Brahmin men from the Kuchipudi village in Telugu-speaking South India who are required to don stri-vesam (woman's guise) and impersonate female characters from Hindu religious narratives. Impersonation is not simply a gender performance circumscribed to the Kuchipudi stage, but a practice of power that enables the construction of hegemonic brahmin masculinity in everyday village life. However, the power of the brahmin male body in stri-vesam is highly contingent, particularly on account of the expansion of Kuchipudi in the latter half of the twentieth century from a localized village performance to a transnational Indian dance form. This book analyzes the practice of impersonation across a series of boundaries--village to urban, brahmin to non-brahmin, hegemonic to non-normative--to explore the artifice of brahmin masculinity in contemporary South Indian dance"--Provided by publisher Analysis 20th century brahmin to non brahmin female characters gender performance hindu religious narratives impersonation kuchipudi village localized village performance male body masculinity men practice of impersonation smarta brahmin south india stage stri vesham telugu transnational indian dance form village to urban Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed Subject Brahmans -- India, South -- Social life and customs Gender identity in dance -- India, South Female impersonators -- India, South -- Social life and customs Kuchipudi (Dance) -- Social aspects -- India, South SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- General. Brahmans -- Social life and customs Gender identity in dance South India Form Electronic book LC no. 2019003975 ISBN 9780520972230 0520972236 0520301668 9780520301665

  Permalink