Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict
Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Publisher
- Wesleyan University Press
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2020
- Category
- General, History & Criticism, Regional & Ethnic
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780819578891
- Publish Date
- Apr 2020
- List Price
- $97.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780819578907
- Publish Date
- Apr 2020
- List Price
- $29.95
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Where to buy it
Description
A performance-ethnographic examination of dance and civil war in Sri Lanka
Winner of The de la Torre Bueno® First Book Award (2021)
Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict is a groundbreaking ethnographic examination of dance practice in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the civil war (1983–2009). It is the first book of scholarship on bharata natyam (a classical dance originating in India) in Sri Lanka, and the first on the role of this dance in the country's war. Focusing on women dancers, Ahalya Satkunaratnam shows how they navigated conditions of conflict and a neoliberal, global economy, resisted nationalism and militarism, and advocated for peace. Her interdisciplinary methodology combines historical analysis, methods of dance studies, and dance ethnography.
About the author
Contributor Notes
Ahalya Satkunaratnam is professor of arts and humanities at Quest University Canada located in the unceded territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) peoples. A dancer and choreographer, she has performed across the United States, Canada, India, and Sri Lanka. Her creative work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council.