South Asian Artistic Pedagogy in Transnational Perspective
Chair(s): Sarah Morelli (University of Denver)
This panel explores the pedagogy of the South Asian classical and classical-derived arts, specifically Carnatic music, Hindustani music, Bharatanatyam, and Tamil kirttanai, in the context of their transmission within the United States. How are traditional South Asian pedagogical practices adapted in their diasporic context, and to what ends? Each of these papers discusses challenges faced by transnational instructors of South Asian music and dance in their efforts to make these traditions accessible to an American student population, as they must contend with the institutional norms and political ideologies of the United States while also working to preserve the classical South Asian heritage on a global scale. This results in localized translations of traditional South Asian pedagogy, including a renewed emphasis on sensorial and embodied experience, inductive rather than deductive pedagogy, and participation in broader socioeconomic and political narratives of liberation. Diasporic practitioners also work to subvert the gendered, classed, and casteist norms emphasized by traditional practice through their pedagogical innovations, in service of expanding the accessibility and inclusivity of the South Asian arts from a global perspective. Crucially, however, as all three of these papers demonstrate, the translation and modification of traditional practices in diaspora is not seen as a rupture with tradition but as a means of sustaining a global community of practitioners who are active participants in these genres’ ongoing transnational development.
Presentations in the Session
Guru-Sisya Parampara in the U.S. Diaspora
Varshini Narayanan
University of Chicago
This talk emerges from the experience, after nearly three decades of study in the Carnatic tradition, of becoming a guru myself, and of having to contend with the artistic and pedagogical conventions that inform musical study in the United States compared with the South Asian classical tradition of guru-sisya parampara. I present ethnographic interviews with three second-generation American teachers of South Asian classical music, as well as autoethnographic reflections on my own experiences as a guru. Our conversations reveal a twofold understanding of guru-sisya parampara as a cultural institution. On the one hand, the title of guru reflects a presumed mastery over one’s art form, as well as the authority to serve as a culture-bearer and mentor for the next generation of South Asian American musicians. On the other hand, this very authority places us in an uneasy position of power that we must take careful steps to mitigate. Indeed, scholar-practitioners of South Asian music including Amanda Weidman and Dard Neuman have argued that the very methodological foundations of guru-sisya parampara reinforce a power dynamic that positions the guru as a gatekeeper of knowledge and the sisya as an empty vessel with limited agency over the learning process. As my paper demonstrates, many of the innovations second-generation gurus make in our pedagogy, such as favoring inductive rather than deductive methods and a student-driven learning trajectory, are out of a desire to unsettle these built-in power dynamics as well as to better serve the unique learning needs of our American students.
Re-Rooting the Art, Re-Routing the Body: Unlearning to Learn the T. Balasaraswati Dance Tradition in the United States
Bianca Iannitti
Wesleyan University
To “unlearn” something can imply the correction of a behavior; to improve or to fix. What was once considered a habitual action, is now ruptured. This state of “rupture” serves as a powerful space of conceptual and creative practice, and reveals unlearning’s power as an effective tool to transcend such ruptures whether it be cultural, religious, and/or kinesthetic. Unlearning rings particularly relevant to the 20-year relationship fostered by internationally-acclaimed bharatanatyam dancer, Smt. T. Balasaraswati, and her dedicated group of American disciples. Although America provided a conducive environment to re-root Balasarswati’s art, challenges emerged both inside and outside of the classroom. In turn, Balasaraswati unlearned a series of pedagogical, socio-cultural, and personal shifts in order to remedy such conflicts. This demonstration of adaptability was not unilateral. The students also underwent an unlearning process in order for their bodies and minds to receive their teacher’s precious art. What can the unlearning process inform us about the transitional process of planting a performance tradition, like Balasaraswati’s, into a different socio-cultural context? To what degree does the concept of unlearning have a place within bharatanāṭyam and the broader discipline of ethnomusicology? In relation to the current generation of American students and instructors, what does the unlearning process look like today? Drawing from my experience as a bharatanatyam dancer in this tradition, theories of unlearning, embodiment, and memory, along with interviews from Bala’s American students and others within the tradition, this presentation will highlight a number of cases in order to address these questions.
Pathways to Tamil Diaspora Worship through Ragam Education in the U.S.
Rachel Schuck
University of North Texas
As the number of Tamil Christian musicians working in kirttanai idioms in the U.S. has increased since 2020, diasporic kirttanai educators have sought out pedagogical techniques that sustain their active musical participation in political and historical narratives of exile theology. Over the past few years, the pedagogical focus toward these ends has shifted from an emphasis on text translation and application to an emphasis on the Carnatic ragam system. These educators rely on the exploration of Carnatic melodic frameworks - such as integration of gamakam and application of embodied emotional states to biblical narratives - as platforms of vocal agency (Rahaim, 2022; Weidman 2021, 2006; Gautier, 2015). Reclaiming these melodic frameworks recasts bi-musical Tamil Christian kirttanai educators’ musical and spiritual priorities in the American milieu and facilitates engagement from diasporic youth. In this paper, I draw on ethnographic interviews with Dr. C. Victor, an educator, clinician, and content creator of Tamil Christian music in South India and the diaspora, and Mr. Freddy Diwakaran, co-director of the American College Choir; both based in Madurai and trained in Carnatic and Euro-American hymnody idioms. I position my case study of ragam education in the U.S. within the broader discourse of Carnatic music pedagogy’s mobilization by Dalit communities towards social, economic, and spiritual liberation (Sherinian 2024, 2014).
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