Inventing Narratives, Arousing Audiences: the Plays of Mahesh Dattani

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-356
Author(s):  
Susan Oommen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
English Department ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rutgers University ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
Academic Year

In this article Susan Oommen looks at the plays of the popular Indian dramatist Mahesh Dattani as conversations between the writer and his audience on models of reality, and interprets their performance as moments in subjectivization. In initiating an audience into redefining identity, she argues that Dattani provides the parameters within which problematizations may be reviewed and better understood. He also seeks to queer the debate on Indian middle-class morality, thereby challenging its privileged status and underscoring the interconnection between repression and invisibility. The question for the audience is whether Dattani's plays can cue them into experiences of resistance and encourage them to reinvent narratives that may then function as personal histories. One of the plays on which this article focuses, Dance Like a Man, was seen during this year's Edinburgh Festival as part of the Celebration of Indian Contemporary Performing Arts. Susan Oommen works in the English Department in Stella Maris College, India, where she has been on the faculty since 1975. She spent the past academic year at the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University.

Music, Exchange, and the Production of Value: A Case Study of Hindustani Music

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Morcom
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
The Past ◽  
Objective Value ◽  
Hindustani Music ◽  
Theory Of Value

This chapter uses Hindustani music as a case study, developing anthropology’s theoretical work on value and exchange toward the analysis of music. It focuses on the action-based theory of value devised by Nancy Munn (1986) and later developed by David Graeber (2001). Rather than something residing “in the music,” value is viewed as entirely social, and ephemeral, generated by acts and the codification of acts into distinctive patterned aesthetic forms. The chapter refines the analysis through Annette Weiner’s concept of “inalienable possessions,” that is, things which are not necessarily costly or of any objective value, but have gained immeasurable and irreplaceable value to particular groups in particular times and places through “keeping while giving,” and which inscribe lineage, heredity, and history. This enables an exploration of how history and transmission operate in value creation in the context of music and performing arts. The chapter also develops theoretical work on exchange to analyze musical performance, where what is “given” or “received” is intangible and highly subjective, making it particularly unpredictable in its value and with potential for immense excess and thereby implications for obligations, attachments, or even devotion. Thus, the chapter explores how the complex web of behaviors, discourse, knowledge, and skills variously continued, adapted, and discontinued from the past, and with new strands woven in, constantly re-create Hindustani music as an inalienable possession for middle-class audiences, for whom basic templates of value are in many ways radically opposed to those of the original patrons and performers.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Sykes
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Music Videos ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post War

In the conclusion to The Musical Gift, Jim Sykes discusses Sri Lankan versions of viral music videos over the past decade, particularly Pharrell Williams’ video “Happy.” Sykes notes that several people filming themselves dancing to Williams’ song were stopped by the police, who could not comprehend why people were singing and dancing in public outside of the bounds of an official concert. The Sri Lankan “Happy” videos have also been criticized as depicting upper- and middle-class Sri Lankans and thus obscuring the fact that happiness has not been achieved for many Sri Lankans, including those who suffered greatly from the war. Returning to the concept of “the musical gift,” Sykes argues the promotion of public song and dance from and between various communities has a role to play in forging post-war reconciliation and building a “happiness” that emerges from Sri Lankan aesthetics.

scholarly journals Between field and home: notes from the balcony

2021 ◽  
pp. 147447402110205
Author(s):  
Shruti Ragavan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
The Past ◽  
Urban Village ◽  
The City

Balconies, windows and terraces have come to be identified as spaces with newfound meaning over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and concomitant lockdowns. There was not only a marked increase in the use of these spaces, but more importantly a difference in the very nature of this use since March 2020. It is keeping this latter point in mind, that I make an attempt to understand the spatial mobilities afforded by the balcony in the area of ethnographic research. The street overlooking my balcony, situated amidst an urban village in the city of Delhi – one of my field sites, is composed of middle and lower-middle class residents, dairy farms and farmers, bovines and other nonhumans. In this note, through ethnographic observations, I reflect upon the balcony as constituting that liminal space between ‘field’ and ‘home’, as well as, as a spatial framing device which conditions and affects our observations and interactions. This is explored by examining two elements – the gendered nature of the space, and the notion of ‘distance and proximity’, through personal narratives of engaging-with the field, and subjects-objects of study in the city.

613Pediatric Burn Bibliotherapy - An Initial Assessment of Novels About Young Burn Survivors and Their Collective Experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S160-S160
Author(s):  
Philip H Chang ◽  
Antonella Barrios ◽  
Jamie Heffernan ◽  
Angela Rabbitts ◽  
Caroline Jedlicka
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Burn Patients ◽  
The Past ◽  
Burn Survivors ◽  
Burn Patient

Abstract Introduction Bibliotherapy is the use of books as a therapeutic intervention for structuring interaction between facilitator and participant based on the mutual sharing of literature. Bibliotherapy has been utilized to address childhood teasing, healthy lifestyles in children, and eating disorders. With the dramatic improvements in survival of burn patients over the past decades, biographies and novels featuring pediatric burn survivors have emerged. These patients often face significant barriers in accessing psychosocial support. Our team hypothesized that bibliotherapy could benefit pediatric burn patients. In order to test this hypothesis, as a first step, our team conducted an assessment of the available burn survivor literature. Methods WorldCat book database was queried using the terms “Burn Patient Fiction” (45 results) and “Burn Patient Biography” (53 results). The authors identified 12 books out of these 98 results likely to be appropriate for adolescent and teenage burn patients based on the brief summaries. The 12 books were then read by the research team and analyzed for burn patient demographics and relevant clinical data when available. Simple descriptive statistics were utilized for numerical data Results Out of 12 books read, 5 were biographies & 7 fictional novels. Protagonists mean age at time of injury was 8.7±5.1 years (range 2–16), with 5 males and 7 females. Average injury size was 57±21% TBSA (range: 14–85). 10 of 12 protagonists suffered facial burns; 7 of 12 suffered hand burns. Oral health/dental issues were described in 4 of 12 books. Geographically, these English language novels spanned Australia (1), Canada 92), and the U.S. (9). Average page length was 237±88 pages (range: 64–372). In 11 of 12 books, mechanism of injury involved flame from car accidents (2), house fires (4), and campfires (2). With regards to sources of positive support during the recovery phase, family was the most commonly cited source (11 novels) followed by friends (10), spiritual/religious support (5), sports (3), burn survivor groups (3), hospital psychiatrists (3), and performing arts (2). Appropriate audience group for most books were teenagers (11) with 5 books deemed also appropriate for adults (only 1 book judged appropriate only for adults), and 2 books appropriate for adolescents. Conclusions Several novels and biographies with pediatric burn survivor protagonists have been written over the past 20 years. Commonalities across these books include flame burn etiology, relatively large TBSA, and burn injuries to visible body areas (face and hand). Family and friends were the most common emotional support for these protagonists. Most books were appropriate for teenagers.

Library Internet Resources: Conducting Performing Arts Research Online

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
Susan Brady
Keyword(s):  
World Wide Web ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
World Wide ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Internet Resources ◽  
The World ◽  
Electronic Access

Over the past decade academic and research libraries throughout the world have taken advantage of the enormous developments in communication technology to improve services to their users. Through the Internet and the World Wide Web researchers now have convenient electronic access to library catalogs, indexes, subject bibliographies, descriptions of manuscript and archival collections, and other resources. This brief overview illustrates how libraries are facilitating performing arts research in new ways.

Commercialising the sound of the people: Pleng Luktoong and the Thai pop music industry

Popular Music ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ubonrat Siriyuvasak
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Music Industry ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
Pop Music ◽  
The Past ◽  
Previous Generation ◽  
Indigenous Music ◽  
The People

Since Thailand's Copyright Act became law in 1979 an indigenous music industry has emerged. In the past, the small recording business was concentrated on two aspects: the sale of imported records and the manufacture of popular, mainly Lukkroong music, and classical records. However, the organisation of the Association of Music Traders – an immediate reaction to the enforcement of the Copyright law – coupled with the advent of cassette technology, has transformed the faltering gramophone trade. Today, middle-class youngsters appreciate Thai popular music in contrast to the previous generation who grew up with western pop and rock. Young people in the countryside have begun to acquire a taste for the same music as well as enjoy a wider range of Pleng Luktoong, the country music with which they identify. How did this change which has resulted in the creation of a new pleasure industry come about? And what are some of the consequences of this transformation.

The Politics of Memory: Rededicating Two Historical Monuments in Postwar Germany

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-280
Author(s):  
Sam A. Mustafa
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
Postwar Germany ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Monuments ◽  
Coffee Table

For much of the past two centuries German governments encouraged or even sponsored the construction of war monuments. By the turn of the twentieth century Germany was covered in more than a thousand such shrines, most of which had local or regional significance as places of annual celebration or commemoration. Government, media, and business all contributed to an elaborate hagiography of Germany's battles, war heroes, and martyrs, with monuments usually serving as the centerpieces. Millions of middle-class Germans attended or participated in commemoration ceremonies at war monuments all over the country, and/or filled their homes with souvenir trinkets, tableware, wall decorations, coffee-table books, and other quotidian items that reproduced images of the monuments or scenes from the events they memorialized.

Improving Implementation Methods Subjects Study Group At Ips At Class Vi Sdn 03 Padang District Of Lengayang Marapalam Academic Year 2015/2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Lisdaini Lisdaini
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Exact Science ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic Year

Function lessons Social Science (IPS) Elementary School is to develop a rational attitude about social phenomena as well as an insight into the development of Indonesian society and mas world in the past and the present. While the purpose of social studies in primary school is to take the knowledge and basic skills that are useful for students in daily life and be able to develop an understanding of the development of Indonesian society since the past until the present. In the evaluation, the teaching of social studies for students of SD Negeri 03 Padang District of Lengayang Marapalam Academic Year 2015/2016 industrious and keen to learn, they will be easier to work on and solve the problems it faces, and they will be fond of social studies for social studies is not an exact lesson or an exact science that requires a definite answer. This study is an action research (PTK) using the model Kemmis and MC. Taggart (1988). Kemmis develop a model which would exist sarkan spiral of self-reflection system starts with a plan, action, observation and reflection, for re-planning is the basis for a square - square troubleshooting. Student achievement SD Negeri 03 Padang District of Lengayang Marapalam Academic Year 2015/2016 class VI is still not satisfactory. This research is a class action ( classroom action research ). In the initial condition (prasiklus) achievement of sixth grade social studies on the competence of the formation of market prices are still low. Of the 22 students who score less than KKM 14 students (53.57%), within the limits of KKM there are five students (25%) and exceeded the limits of existing KKM 3 students (21, 43%) with an average grade 66.75.  

scholarly journals ENHANCING WRITING ABILITY THROUGH IDEA LISTING TECHNIQUE

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zaini Miftah
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
English Department ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
The Third ◽  
Classroom Action Research ◽  
Academic Year

The study is aimed at developing the Idea Listing Technique (ILT) to enhance the students‟ writing ability. The Classroom Action Research was applied in this study. The subjects of the study were 31 students, the students taking the course of Writing II, of the third semester of English Department of one State Islamic College at Palangka Raya, Indonesia, in the 2012/2013 academic year. The findings show that the implementation of ILT can enhance the students‟ ability in writing expository paragraph. It is indicated by the enhancements of the percentage of the students achieving the score greater than or equal to C (60-69), and of the percentage of their involvement in the writing activities during the implementation of ILT in Cycle I and II. Thus, the enhancement of the students‟ ability in writing expository paragraph can be reached but it should follow the appropriate procedures of the implementation of ILT having been developed.Keywords: Idea Listing Technique, Writing Ability, Paragraph Writing, Expository Paragraph

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