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Through an exploration of subjects such as Gandhi impersonators,
performance artists, and ritual participants, Mimetic Desires makes
an intervention toward understanding the phenomenon of
impersonation and guising in South Asia and the world. This volume
defines impersonation as the temporary assumption of an identity or
guise in social and aesthetic performance that is perceived as not
one’s own, and guising as sartorial and kinetic play more
generally. Interrogating the legitimacy of the purported dialectic
between the "real/original" and "fake/dupe," Mimetic Desires
refutes the ordering of identity along the lines of a binary or
dichotomy that presupposes the myth of an original identity. By
peeling back the layers of performative masks to reveal the process
of the masquerade itself, we can see that those with the most
social capital are often those with the most power and
opportunities to impersonate "up" and "down" social hierarchies.
The book’s twelve chapters disclose sites and processes of
sociopolitical power facilitated by normative markers of social
status relating to race, ethnicity, gender, caste, class, and
religion—and how those markers can be manipulated to express and
enhance individual and group power. The first comprehensive study
to focus on impersonation in South Asia, Mimetic Desires expands on
previous scholarship on impersonation and guising in vernacular
theatre, dance, public processions, and religious rituals. It is
particularly in conversation with the robust scholarship on gender
performance in South Asia’s theatrical and dance forms. Mimetic
Desires explores some of the contexts and forms of impersonation in
South Asia, with its remarkable array of performing arts, to gain
insight into the very human and quotidian practices of
impersonation and guising.
Through an exploration of subjects such as Gandhi impersonators,
"God-men," performance artists, and participants in ritual
enactments of sacred stories through dance and theatre, Mimetic
Desires makes an intervention toward understanding the phenomenon
of impersonation and guising in South Asia and the world. This
volume defines impersonation as the temporary assumption of an
identity or guise in performance that is perceived to be not
one’s own, regardless of whether this assumption is deliberate,
intentional, and conscious or not. Interrogating the legitimacy of
the purported dialectic between the "real/original" and
"fake/dupe," Mimetic Desires refutes any ordering of identity along
the lines of a binary or dichotomy that presupposes the myth of an
original identity. Guising captures sartorial and kinetic play more
generally. By peeling back the layers of performative masks to
reveal the process of the masquerade itself, we can see that those
with the most social capital are often those with the most power
and opportunities to impersonate "up"—and "down"—social
hierarchies. The twelve chapters in Mimetic Desires disclose sites
and processes of socio-political power facilitated by normative
markers of social status relating to race, ethnicity, gender,
caste, class, and religion—and how those markers can be
manipulated to express and enhance individual and group power. The
first comprehensive study to focus on impersonation in South Asia,
Mimetic Desires expands on previous scholarship on impersonation
and guising in vernacular theatre, dance, public processions, and
religious ritual. It is particularly in conversation with the
robust scholarship on gender performance and trans-kothi-hijra
engagement in theatrical and dance forms in South Asia. Mimetic
Desires explores some of the contexts and forms of impersonation in
South Asia, with its remarkable array of performing arts, to gain
insight into the very human and quotidian practices of
impersonation and guising.
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