Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India

by Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger

Overview

In Gender and Genre in the Folklore of Middle India, Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger analyzes six representative Indian folklore genres from a single regional repertoire to show the influence of their intertextual relations on the composition and interpretation of artistic performance. Placing special emphasis on women’s rituals, she looks at the relationship between the framework and organization of indigenous genres and the reception of folklore performance. The regional repertoire under examination presents a strikingly female-centered world. Female performers and characters are active, articulate, and frequently challenge or defy expectations of gender. Men also confound traditional gender roles. Flueckiger includes the translations of two full performance texts of narratives sung by female and male storytellers respectively.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801432064
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	06/20/1996
Series:	Myth and Poetics
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is Professor of Religion and Director of the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. She is the author of books including When the World Becomes Female: Possibilities of a South Indian Goddess and Everyday Hinduism.

Editorial Reviews

In this superbly crafted, absorbing book, Flueckiger explores the relationships among folklore genres in the Chattisgarh region of north India, achieving a pioneering model of the study of a ‘folklore system’ in its entirety. This is ethnographic scholarship at its best. The multigenre approach is a major contribution, and this rich book should be read by all students of folklore, literature, performance, and South Asia.

Choice

"Based on fifteen months of original research at the boundary between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, as well as on many return visits over the course of fifteen years, this book is one of the most wide-ranging, meticulous, and insightful monographs on Indian folklore ever published."

American Ethnologist - Gloria Goodwin Raheja

Based on fifteen months of original research at the boundary between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, as well as on many return visits over the course of fifteen years, this book is one of the most wide-ranging, meticulous, and insightful monographs on Indian folklore ever published.

Gloria Goodwin Rahejan Ethnologist

Based on fifteen months of original research at the boundary between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, as well as on many return visits over the course of fifteen years, this book is one of the most wide-ranging, meticulous, and insightful monographs on Indian folklore ever published.

--Gloria Goodwin Raheja "American Ethnologist"

In this superbly crafted, absorbing book, Flueckiger explores the relationships among folklore genres in the Chattisgarh region of north India, achieving a pioneering model of the study of a 'folklore system' in its entirety. This is ethnographic scholarship at its best. The multigenre approach is a major contribution, and this rich book should be read by all students of folklore, literature, performance, and South Asia.

-- "Choice"

From the Publisher