Kirin Narayan
University of Wisconsin System (Madison, WI 53715-1218)
FA-52656-06
Fellowships for University Teachers
Research Programs
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Totals:
$40,000 (approved)
$40,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
9/1/2006 – 5/31/2007
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Women's Sung Mythologies from the Himalayan Foothills
I seek NEH support to complete "Divine Troubles," an ethnography that follows how traditional poetic texts intertwine with performers' lives amid shifting cultural horizons. I address a genre of songs that retell Hindu mythological episodes from Kangra women's points of view. In such songs, mythic women and goddesses take charge of their lives, facing and resolving troubles. I supplement poetic texts with women singers' commentaries, life histories, and perceptions of changing social contexts; views of men and local women who distance themselves from such traditional practices; and my own narrative of encounters with Kangra since 1975.
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