Research Catalog

Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance

Title
Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance / Harshita Mruthinti Kamath.
Author
Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, 1982-
Publication
  • Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019]
  • ©2019

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TextUse in library JFE 19-7734Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xv, 225 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm
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.
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
  • Brahmans > Social life and customs
  • Gender identity in dance
  • South India
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction -- 1. Taking center stage : the poet-saint and the impersonator of Kuchipudi dance history -- 2. "I am Satyabhama" : constructing hegemonic Brahmin masculinity in the Kuchipudi village -- 3. Constructing artifice, interrogating impersonation : Madhavi as Vidūṣaka in village Bhāmākalāpam performance -- 4. Bhāmākalāpam beyond the village : transgressing norms of gender and sexuality in urban and transnational Kuchipudi dance -- 5. Longing to dance : stories of Kuchipudi Brahmin women -- Conclusion: rewriting the script for Kuchipudi dance.
Call Number
JFE 19-7734
ISBN
  • 9780520301665
  • 0520301668
LCCN
  • 2018061418
  • 40029256071
OCLC
1055264302
Author
Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, 1982- author.
Title
Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance / Harshita Mruthinti Kamath.
Publisher
Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019]
Copyright Date
©2019
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Other Form:
Online version: Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, 1982- author. Impersonations Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] 9780520972230 (DLC) 2019003975
Other Standard Identifier
40029256071
Research Call Number
JFE 19-7734
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