Paper short abstract:

In this paper I consider the problematic relationship between attempts to patrimonialize the teyyam ritual of Kerala (India) and the challenge to transmit the related performance knowledge beyond the boundaries of the local community.

Paper long abstract:

Teyyam is a danced possession ritual performed in some villages of Northern Kerala (India) by ritual specialists from formerly untouchable castes. Each dancer can be possessed by one supernatural being among a variety of heroes, gods and goddesses, genii loci, divinized beings, persons who died a violent death, etc. As it is testified by the ethnographic literature on teyyam of the last sixty years, some important changes have taken place since the independence of India in the status of the ritual and, as a consequence, in its performance, structure, and organization. From being disregarded by the élites as a crude form of expression, and condemned by missionaries as a devil dance, teyyam has become one of the symbols, to be preserved, of the richness and originality of Kerala's culture. The ongoing process of the patrimonialization of teyyam has involved the transformation of existing social relationships and the creation of new ones at the local and international levels. This has resulted in the depletion of the number of supernatural beings celebrated in teyyam rituals, and in the crystallization of the extant repertoire, without the creation of any new teyyam character. To date all attempts to transform the teyyam in a theatrical performance have failed, while there is no news of any Western apprentice who has had access to the transmission of this ritual, what instead happened with other Keralan performances. Does this fact affect seriously the eligibility of teyyam in the list of recognized objects called Intangible Heritage of Humanity?