Dancing by the Juniper: Notes from the performative space of the Brokpa's cultural enactment

This article explores the modes of form-construction in the performative sphere of the Brokpa's cultural enactment. Anthropocenic anxieties are embedded in the territoriality of this Himalayan community's folk art-form and the terrain constitutes a stage to host it. The participatory frame...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian journal of social science 2021-06, Vol.49 (2), p.109-119
Main Author: Bhagabati, Dikshit Sarma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brokpa
Darchiks
Exoticization
Folk performance
Globalization
Ladakh
Social difference
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Summary:This article explores the modes of form-construction in the performative sphere of the Brokpa's cultural enactment. Anthropocenic anxieties are embedded in the territoriality of this Himalayan community's folk art-form and the terrain constitutes a stage to host it. The participatory framework of their songs and dances reveals the social roles that shape the positionalities of the audience and the performer, signaling a free-flowing movement between these locations in the performative field. The Brokpa dancer's identity, carved out as a racialized attraction for the tourism market, also undergoes differentiation within the community itself based on class, gender, age, and other socio-economic indices. Yet the ultimate signifier of a performing Brokpa subject is authenticated through social differences heightened by modernity, while constantly resisting the exoticized portrayals of the community. What emerges in the end is a problematization of the line between the folk and contemporary, local and global, and traditional and modern art-forms.
ISSN:1568-4849
2212-3857
DOI:10.1016/j.ajss.2021.01.002