Paper short abstract:

This work based on both empirical fieldwork and personal experience as a dancer, being born in a Muslim family, expresses the contestation of two separate world views and their reconciliation in the academic and intellectual enterprise of writing a PhD thesis.

Paper long abstract:

This auto-ethnographical account is about my learning Odissi dance and becoming a performer in spite of being born in a Muslim family, where dancing by girls is not encouraged. The dance form initially dedicated to the worship of Lord Jagannath was a temple dance practiced solely by the Maharis (female temple dancers commonly known as Devadasis in southern parts of India) was a part of Hindu temple tradition. Islam as a religion does not propagate idol worship, wherein dance and music is also considered taboo. At times during the course of my fieldwork, misconstruction of values and norms lead to misinterpretation of cultural ethos and I needed to negotiate my identity at various times. However in India many Muslim women have been learning dance and some have also been well known, so one needs to reflect on the syncretic tradition of the sub-continent and the more liberal traditions of Islam that forms my background.

This work based on both empirical fieldwork and personal experience as a dancer, being born in a Muslim family, expresses the contestation of two separate world views and their reconciliation in the academic and intellectual enterprise of writing a PhD thesis.