Prof. Dr. Ann R. David

Going beyond the usual concepts of dependency relationships located within a post-colonial state, this research project examines in greater depth how Indian conceptions of the body (depicted in art, iconography and in performance) have been impacted by a moral, religious Western perspective imposed before, during and post-colonial rule. Following on from recent work by established scholars such as Anna Morcom (2013) and Adnan Hossain at al. (2022), as well as writings by Sara Azzarelli (2015) and others, I investigate aspects of 'asymmetrical relations of dependence' (Hegewald, 2023:8) and issues of empowerment as well as erasures of memory brought about by nationalistic agendas.

The 'moralizing projects of colonial and post-colonial modernity' as Davesh Soneji has termed them remain part of the 'unfinished pasts' (2012:3) of both the place and enactment of performative ritual and performance in India, from the roles of the female devadasi through to the itinerant folk dance and theatrical performers, and the 'third gender' or transgender performers – the hirijas and kothis. In these cases there is what I call a "double dependency" that emerges firstly from the all-powerful colonial project and secondly, in the India that develops in post-colonial times from the new, fervent nationalism that reinforces in part, a Victorian morality and disgust for bodily performance, recreating the dance forms through a prism of purity and respectability. In complex ways, these systems created cultures of dependency where aspects of inclusion and exclusion were normative ways of behaviour.

Investigating iconography that depicts certain original philosophic concepts of a balance between male and female (ardhanarishvara), and particular stories of gender transformation in mythological depictions such as in the epic Mahabharata text well as examples of deities worshipped by the trans community (Devi Bahuchara) reveal layered understandings of the spectrum of human sexuality. The project intends to bring together established knowledge in these two related domains – of art and performance- historically and contemporaneously and to question how in today’s world where complexities of gender and understanding of its wide spectrum are growing, what might be learned from past practices and knowledge of "indigenous" gender fluidity and inclusive agendas once part of India’s philosophic and practiced living.

Azzarelli, Sara 2015 'Dancing Across Gender Boundaries: An Exploration on the Process of Gender Identity Construction through the Indian Classical Dance Bharatanatyam', Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 60 (1), pp.77-84.

Hegewald, Julia A.B. (2023) ‘Introduction’ in Julia A.B. Hegewald, ed. Embodied Dependencies and Freedoms. Artistic Communities and Patronage in Asia, Bonn: De Gruyter, 1-32.

Hossain, Adnan, Clare Pamment & Jeff Roy (2022) Badhai. Hijra-Khwaja Sira-Trans Performance across Borders in South Asia, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Morcom, Anna (2013) Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance. Cultures of Exclusion, London: Hurst Publishers.

Soneji, Davesh (2012) Unfinished Gestures. Devadasi, Memory, and Modernity in South India, Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press

since 2024
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Institute of Oriental & Asian Studies, University of Bonn

2022–2024
Visiting Professor and Cultural Engagement Fellow in Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI), King’s College, London

2013–2019
Head of Department, University of Roehampton, London

2013–2018
Reader, University of Roehampton, London

2001–2005
PhD in Dance Ethnography, De Montfort University, UK

1998–2000
MA Dance Studies, University of Surrey, UK