Gender, Power, and Visibility in Indian Classical Dance
An Ethnography of Women in Malaysia
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Beschreibung
"Detailed, powerful, and engaging, Thiagarajan's book explores issues of migration, gender, ethnicity, and religion through ethnographies of the too-often-invisible women who perform various types of labor in the service of Indian classical dance in Malaysia."
—Kristen Rudisill, Bowling Green State University, USA
“This book is an important addition to the fast-increasing list of publications in Dance Studies from South and Southeast Asia. As a scholar / performer / teacher the author creates magic through stories of women dancers, trained in Indian classical dances, practicing, performing and teaching in Malaysia. The sustained interviews and her experience as an insider, make this ethnographic writing come alive and encourages reflexive studies on roots and agencies in the dance ecologies in the Global South.”
—Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
“This insightful study explores popular representations of Bharatanatyam in Malaysia through the dual lenses of gendered labor and socioeconomic status. Through extensive research into the lives of generational female dancers, the author provides a vivid account of how art-making and religious life navigate economic adversity in an often-overlooked region in dance studies.”
—Hari Krishnan, Wesleyan University, USA
This book examines the politics of representation involved in Indian classical dance in Malaysia. Although women are rarely recognised as star dancers in Malaysia, this book illuminates how women enact power through extensive backstage and offstage labour. Focusing on the Malaysian Indian dance circle, it examines how women’s identities are formed and negotiated as traditions evolve across borders and how patriarchy constrains and shapes their labour. Based on decades of ethnographic field work, its goal is to amplify the voices of women and make their labour visible. It will be of interest to researchers in gender studies, transnational feminism, cultural studies, critical dance studies, diasporic studies, and anthropology.
Premalatha Thiagarajan is Senior Lecturer in the Dance Department of Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, a Bharatanatyam dance practitioner, and the founder of Premalayaa Performing Arts, a company that specializes in Indian classical dance and music.
This book examines the politics of representation involved in Indian classical dance in Malaysia through gender politics, diasporic Indian history, class, caste, religious background, and ethnicity. While it is a rare phenomenon to identify a woman dancer as a star in Malaysia, women claim power and agency through backstage and offstage labour. Offering a multifaceted investigation of labour, power, and visibility within the Malaysian Indian dance circle, this book illuminates how women enact power by performing a wide range of tasks and roles—such as cooks and food servers in the cafeterias of dance institutions, domestic householders involved in taking care of family, dance teachers, dance rehearsal assistants, costume designers, emcees, stage managers, and the organizers and coordinators of dance events. Through critical analysis of women’s roles in dance as an embodied practice, it looks at how dance shapes their collective identities and how dance is reshaped through bodies when traditions evolve across borders, as well as to what extent patriarchy inhibits or informs these women’s efforts. This study, the first of its kind in Malaysia, is built on decades of ethnographic field work. Its goal is to amplify the voices of women and make their labour visible. It will be of interest to researchers in gender studies, transnational feminism, cultural studies, critical dance studies, diasporic studies, and anthropology.
Based on a decade of ethnographic field work Explores Indian classical dance through the bodies and lived experiences of multi-ethnic women dancers Examines the complex intersection of gender politics, class, caste, religion, and ethnicity in Indian dance
Autor*in
Premalatha Thiagarajan
Themen in »Gender, Power, and Visibility in Indian Classical Dance«
Indian classical dance Malaysian women Indian diaspora women's invisible labour Bharatanatyam women's labor in performing arts Odissi Kathak Kuchipudi Dance practitioners Performance studies Gender labor Diasporic Indian women performers Feminist ethnography of dance Visibility and power in performance