Moving Bodies, Navigating Conflict: Practicing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka - Softcover

Satkunaratnam, Ahalya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0819578908 ISBN 13: 9780819578907

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press, 2020

Synopsis

A performance-ethnographic examination of dance and civil war in Sri Lanka

Winner of The de la Torre Bueno(R) 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 this title

About the Author

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0819578908
• ISBN 13: 9780819578907
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200