Singing a Hindu Nation: Marathi Devotional Performance and Nationalism

ISBN-13: 9780199730834 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 256 str.

Anna C. Schultz

Opis

Singing a Hindu Nation explores how the political becomes devotional through musical performance. At the heart of author Anna Schultz's study is r=ashtr=iya k=irtan, a western Indian performance medium that combines song, Hindu philosophical discourse, and nationalist storytelling. Performers of r=ashtr=iya k=irtan have impacted the political environment throughout the last century, inspiring Marathi-speaking people to resist colonial domination both violently and non-violently in the early twentieth century, supporting state health and national integration projects in the early post-colonial era, and in the last decade of the century, using their performances to buttress the rhetoric of Hindu nationalists as these groups rose to power. By performing in regional idioms with rich associations for Maharashtrian congregations, singers of r=ashtr=iya k=irtan use music to combine political and religious signs in ways that seem natural and desirable, and as a result effectively promote embodied experiences of nationalist devotion. As the first monograph on music and Hindu nationalism, Singing a Hindu Nation presents a rare glimpse into the lives and performance worlds of nationalists on the margins of all-India political parties and cultural organizations. The book is an essential resource for ethnomusicologists, as well as scholars of South Asian studies, religion, and political theory.

Recenzje

Historically engaged, ethnographically rich, theoretically sophisticated, and clearly born out of a rich personal history within the region. Schultz provides a window into a musical world that many had no idea existed, but that has, since its inception, provided a powerful locus for the formation of Hindu nationalism at the regional level.

O autorze

Anna Schultz earned the Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Illinois. She is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Stanford University, where she works on Marathi kirtan, Indo-Caribbean music, paraliturgical Indian Jewish music, and country/bluegrass music.