The dancer's voice : performance and womanhood in transnational India

In The Dancer’s Voice Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how the Indian classical dancer performs the complex dynamics of transnational Indian womanhood. Putcha argues that the public persona of the Indian dancer has come to represent India in the global imagination—a representation that supports caste hierarchies and Hindu ethnonationalism, as well as white supremacist model minority narratives. Generations of Indian women have been encouraged to embody the archetype of the dancer, popularized through film cultures from the 1930s to the present. Through analyses of films, immigration and marriage laws, histories of caste and race, advertising campaigns, and her own family’s heirlooms, photographs, and memories, Putcha reveals how women’s citizenship is based on separating their voices from their bodies. In listening closely to and for the dancer’s voice, she offers a new way to understand the intersections of body, voice, performance, caste, race, gender, and nation. "In The Dancer's Voice Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how the Indian classical dancer performs the complex dynamics of transnational Indian womanhood. Putcha argues that the public persona of the Indian dancer has come to represent India in the global imagination-a representation that supports caste hierarchies and Hindu ethnonationalism, as well as white supremacist model minority narratives. Generations of Indian women have been encouraged to embody the archetype of the dancer, popularized through film cultures from the 1930s to the present. Through analyses of films, immigration and marriage laws, histories of caste and race, advertising campaigns, and her own family's heirlooms, photographs, and memories, she reveals how women's citizenship is based on separating their voices from their bodies. In listening closely to and for the dancer's voice, Putcha offers a new way to understand the intersections of body, voice, performance, caste, race, gender, and nation."-- Provided by publisher In The Dancer's Voice Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how theIndian classical dancer performs the complex dynamics oftransnational Indian womanhood. Putcha argues that the publicpersona of the Indian dancer has come to represent India in theglobal imagination-a representation that supports caste hierarchiesand Hindu ethnonationalism, as well as white supremacist modelminority narratives. Generations of Indian women have beenencouraged to embody the archetype of the dancer, popularizedthrough film cultures from the 1930s to the present. Throughanalyses of films, immigration and marriage laws, histories ofcaste and race, advertising campaigns, and her own family'sheirlooms, photographs, and memories, Putcha reveals how women'scitizenship is based on separating their voices from their bodies.In listening closely to and for the dancer's voice, she offers anew way to understand the intersections of body, voice,performance, caste, race, gender, and nation Contents 7 Note on Transliteration and Language 9 Prologue 11 Introduction 19 1 Womanhood 39 2 Caste 61 3 Citizenship 85 4 Silence 107 Epilogue 133 Acknowledgments 141 Glossary 147 Notes 151 Filmography 169 References 181 Index 199 Rumya Sree Putcha uses the figure of the Indian classical dancer to explore the complex dynamics of contemporary transnational Indian womanhood.