Unearthing Gender : Folksongs of North India / Smita Tewari Jassal.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Book collections on Project MUSEPublisher: Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2012Manufacturer: Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2019Copyright date: ©2012Description: 1 online resource (315 pages): illustrations, mapsContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • computer
Carrier type:
  • online resource
ISBN:
  • 9780822394792
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Online resources:
Contents:
The daily grind -- Singing bargains -- Biyah / Biraha : emotions in a rite of passage -- Sita's trials -- When war is marriage -- Taking liberties.
Summary: This book is a compelling ethnographic analysis of folksongs sung primarily by lower-caste women in north India, in the fields, at weddings, during travels, and in other settings. Smita Tewari Jassal uses these songs to explore how ideas of caste, gender, sexuality, labor, and power may be strengthened, questioned, and fine-tuned through music. At the heart of the book is a library of songs, in their original Bhojpuri and in English translation, framed by Jassal's insights into the complexities of gender and power. The significance of these folksongs, Jassal argues, lies in their suggesting and hinting at themes, rather than directly addressing them: women sing what they often cannot talk about. Women's lives, their feelings, their relationships, and their social and familial bonds are persuasively presented in song. For the ethnographer, the songs offer an entry into the everyday cultures of marginalized groups of women who have rarely been the focus of systematic analytical inquiry.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
No physical items for this record

The daily grind -- Singing bargains -- Biyah / Biraha : emotions in a rite of passage -- Sita's trials -- When war is marriage -- Taking liberties.

Open Access Unrestricted online access star

This book is a compelling ethnographic analysis of folksongs sung primarily by lower-caste women in north India, in the fields, at weddings, during travels, and in other settings. Smita Tewari Jassal uses these songs to explore how ideas of caste, gender, sexuality, labor, and power may be strengthened, questioned, and fine-tuned through music. At the heart of the book is a library of songs, in their original Bhojpuri and in English translation, framed by Jassal's insights into the complexities of gender and power. The significance of these folksongs, Jassal argues, lies in their suggesting and hinting at themes, rather than directly addressing them: women sing what they often cannot talk about. Women's lives, their feelings, their relationships, and their social and familial bonds are persuasively presented in song. For the ethnographer, the songs offer an entry into the everyday cultures of marginalized groups of women who have rarely been the focus of systematic analytical inquiry.

In English.

Description based on print version record.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.