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Book/Printed Material Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance

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Title

  • Impersonations : the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance

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.

Names

  • Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, 1982- author

Created / Published

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

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.

Headings

  • -  Brahmans--India, South--Social life and customs
  • -  Female impersonators--India, South--Social life and customs
  • -  Gender identity in dance--India, South
  • -  Kuchipudi (Dance)--Social aspects--India, South

Notes

  • -  Includes bibliographical references.
  • -  Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • DS432.B73

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019003975

Rights Advisory

Access Advisory

  • Unrestricted online access.

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

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Rights & Access

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, Author. Impersonations: the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©, 2019] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019003975/.

APA citation style:

Kamath, H. M. (2019) Impersonations: the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019003975/.

MLA citation style:

Kamath, Harshita Mruthinti, Author. Impersonations: the artifice of Brahmin masculinity in South Indian dance. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©, 2019] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019003975/>.