Performative Gender and Religions in South Asia

Week 1: Introducing Performance and its Characteristics in the South Asian Context: Mahākāvyā, oral tradition and ithāsa, performance-based rituals; Human agency and intervention in conceiving the Divine

Week 2: Sanskrit dramaturgy and Rasa theory: Studying select dramatic text through the lens of Bharat Muni’s Nātyasāstra; Nine Aesthetic Emotions – Rasas and Bhāvas; Concepts of Nāyaka and Nāyika; Role of Vidushaka

Week 3: Bhakti Tradition: Studying the history of the Bhakti movement; the performances, philosophy, and worldview of the Bhakti cult; Alwars and Nayanārs; Nirguna and Saguna; Vaishnavism and its ramifications

Week 4: Sufi Tradition: Studying the history of the Sufi movement; the philosophy and worldview of the Sufi cult; Sufi devotional performances and practices; Explaining Sufi codes, cosmology, and metaphysics

Week 5: Bhakti mysticism and poetics: Through select poets, studying the body-centric interpretation of gods and alternative meanings of religion; love, divinity, and spirituality; Bhakti poetry and the relevance of its ideas in contemporary world

Week 6: Gender and Performance in Bhakti movement: Reading unconventional reflections on the gendered social practices; subversion of gender; divine and devotee as lover and beloved; Bhakti, gender, and egalitarianism

Week 7: Sufi mysticism and poetics: Through select poets and Sufi mystics, exploring the role of the body and transcendental mysticism; Qawwali tradition, gender play and performance – feminized/ androgynous male artists and gender fluidity

Week 8: Gender and Performance in Sufi movement: Murshid and Mureed as lover and beloved; spiritual receptivity and inversion of exoteric gender categories; Sufi embodiment, ecstasy, and the Self; Madness, irrationality, and bodily excess

Week 9: Folk Traditions and Performances: Folk theatre forms (Nautanki, Theiyyam, Ramlila and Krishnalila, Tamasha, Jatra, Chhau, Therukoothu, Ghoomar); Folk Theatre and Shift of Space/Medium

Week 10: Classical Traditions and Performances: Classical dance and theatre forms (Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattom, Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Yakshagana, Kutiyattam, Manipuri, Kathak); Classical Theatre and Shift of Space/Medium

Week 11: Tribal Traditions and Performances: Tribal culture and religious worldview; Rituals and practices; body, performance, nature, and deities; Tribal Performance and Shift of Space/Medium

Week 12: Bhakti, Sufi, and Cinema: Reading the Influence, Adaptation and Reception of Bhakti and Sufi codes in select South Asian films; Dilution, Hybridization and Romanticization for Marketing and Re-Emergence in Contemporary Times, Reading cross-cultural nature of South Asian music

1.Anjum Katyal, ed. Writings on Worship and Performance. Chicago: U Chicago P.
2.Kapila Vatsyayan. Classical Indian Dance: in Literature and the Arts. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld.
3.Simon Charlsley and Laxmi Narayan Kadekar. Performers and Their Arts: Folk, Popular and Classical Genres in a Changing India. New York: Routledge.
4.Shemeem Burney Abbas. The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual. U Texas P.
5.Regula Burkhardt Qureshi. Sufi Music of India and Pakistan: Sound, Context, and Meaning in Qawwali. Chicago: Chicago U P.
6.J. Troisi. Tribal Religion: Religious Beliefs and Practices Among the Santals. New Delhi: Manohar.