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Performing Arts General

Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict

Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka

by (author) Ahalya Satkunaratnam

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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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.