Gender asymmetry in the transmission of Odissi dance in India - a case study

Projektinformationen

GATRODI

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101033051

DOI

10.3030/101033051

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 8 April 2021

Startdatum 1 Juli 2021

Enddatum 30 Juni 2024

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Gesamtkosten

€ 233 808,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 233 808,00

Koordiniert durch

UNIVERSITE CLERMONT AUVERGNE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GATRODI (Gender asymmetry in the transmission of Odissi dance in India - a case study)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-07-01 bis 2024-06-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

The relationship between transmission - or "passing on" - of knowledge and of inequalities constitutes an important social and political concern in today’s world. These inequalities are based on many factors such as, amongst others, status, ethnicity, and/or gender, and tend to reproduce both through informal daily interactions, and in occasions formally recognised as teaching and learning situations. The question of GATRODI is how this reproduction of inequalities – and more specifically of gender inequalities - takes place.

In order to establish more egalitarian ways of transmitting the great variety of forms of know-how’s, it is necessary to generate an understanding of the complex ways in which unequal relationships are being established – or, since they do tend to follow repetitive patterns, transmitted. It is therefore essential to carefully document such processes in their diversity through case studies based on empirical investigations.

Corporeal practices appear as particularly interesting for such an inquiry, because in the case of transmission of corporeal know-how, the object that is created coincides with the person who creates it – and so, with his or her subjectivity.

For these reasons, GATRODI – Gender asymmetry in the transmission of Odissi dance in India - a case study, an MSCA-IF–GF action, focusses on the inequalities in the transmission of the know-how of Odissi dance in India, and more specifically, on gender related asymmetries in the recognition of teaching activities of this dance form.

The project therefore addresses at least two questions:
- What are the differences between men and women’s engagement in teaching activities?
- How are corporeal practices and social life interconnected?

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

GATRODI implemented fieldwork in India, and more specifically in the Indian State of Odisha, from the beginning of the project on 01/07/2021. Participants were free to cooperate or opt out at any time of the study. The main methodology consisted of classic ethnographic methods, which comprise observation and interviews of the individuals involved into Odissi dance in this geographical context. Some of the documentation produced has generated audio and/or video files.

The field-work undertaken generated fieldnotes, interviews, audio- and video-recordings. These were submitted to a work of visioning and interpretation, enabling the production of a detailed ethnographic account of the transmission of Odissi dance, and notably, of the ways in which women are engaged in it and implement their teaching activities.

SUMMARY OF PROMINENT OUTCOMES:
• Documentation of the state of Odissi dance activity in the early 2020ies in Odisha, India, the gendered dimensions of its spatial, social, economic organisation. Characterisation and analysis of the current relational dynamics prevailing in the networks of the dance, and, with reference to earlier investigations,of the effect of recent structural changes on its transmission.
• Analysis, based on ethnographic data, of the factors that impact women's teaching activities.
• Analysis, based on ethnographic data, of how the many modalities of knowing and/or know-how observed in the transmission of the dance are connected with inequalities.
• Production of detailed analyses of the ways in which a social order is maintained in classroom situations, through both verbal and non verbal actions.

GATRODI is communicating about the results in all forms, in seminars, in conferences, and through publications, to both scientific and non scientific audiences.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

First investigations conducted in 2021 showed that the dance activity in urban Odisha had considerably evolved over the past two decades. This finding proved useful in order to address the question of how transmission operates, and how inequalities are reproduced in its context, both within classroom situations, and also, under the influence of factors extending beyond the immediate space of the classroom - such as gender, which constitutes the central focus of attention of GATRODI.

The particular contribution of GATRODI to a general discussion on transmission is to provide a detailed documentation of how inequalities are passed on in a specific case. This contributes to an overall scientific understanding of inegalitarian processes that are at work within transmission situations in general, and of the ways in which transmission of know-how (and/or knowledge) operates.

The expected impact of GATRODI, therefore, is to enhance awareness about the ways in which inequalities are reproduced.

Odissi dance motives painted on a wall. Bhubaneswar, India, 2022. Photo copyright Suko Lam

Hand postures painted on a wall. Bhubaneswar, India, 2022. Photo copyright Suko Lam

Odissi dance motives painted on a wall. Bhubaneswar, India, 2022. Photo copyright Suko Lam.