From Jalsah to Jalsā

Music, Identity, and (Gender) Transitioning at a Hījṛā Rite of Initiation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2736634
AutoresJeff Roy (Le Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CEIAS), Paris, France, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen61
Número3
Páginas389-418
Fecha de publicación2017-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEthnomusicology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0014-1836 • E-ISSN: 2156-7417
EditorialUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.3.0389
OpenAlexW2767883010
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas21

This article investigates the connections among music making, identity, and belonging within the context of a jalsā, a celebratory rite of initiation for a hījṛā (South Asian "third gender" individual) entering her gharānā (family). Drawing connections to Ali Jihad Racy's (2004) analysis of ṭarab (ecstasy) performance in the West Asian jalsah (informal gathering), the article reveals how music making within the larger architecture of the jalsā-in particular, the liminal period in which the hījrā "passes through" to become nirvāṇ (liberated)-enables the visceral embodiment of values concerning hījṛā social transitioning and self-understanding. I argue that the discourses and performance practices involved in becoming hījṛā enact a strategic essentialism through the sanctification of different relational configurations of identity within gharānedar society. This gives shape to a symbolic representation about what it means to be hījṛā that is ambiguously cited, multiplicative, and materially unavailable for those from outside the community who seek to enter, define, or otherwise control it. This article is accompanied by a one-hour film (http://www.ethnomusicologyofthecloset.com/jalsa, password: pehchaan) that was edited to convey the physical and emotional sensation of a nirvāṇ hījṛā's journey

Aesthetics · Art · Communitas · Context (archaeology · Humanities · Identity (music · Liminality · Sanctification · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Gender Studies · History · Music History and Culture · Philosophy