Between Local and Global Teyyam Goes Cyber and Beyond
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/CIS.18.2016.18.03Keywords:
Teyyam, dance, ritual, trance, possession, performance, Internet, cybercultureAbstract
The aim of this paper is to introduce the hypothesis that mutations and adaptive behaviors peculiar to teyyam, a trance-possession danced ritual that originated in Kerala (South India), might call into question or falsify our ideas about local and global praxis. This process involves also a martial art, kaḷarippayattu, the Internet, cognitive and neuroscience research on emotion and empathy, and further developments in the so-called “new technologies”. A secondary hypothesis is also advanced, according to which this mutation may also propagate itself by means of contagion, thereby spreading to other performances in the relevant geographical area.
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Aiswarya, P. K. 2016. Traditional Myths in the Construction of a New ‘Kerala Space’: Cyber Imagining of Kerala and the Play of Power. In: Singularities—A Transdisciplinary Biannual Research Journal, 3(1): 81–86. http://www.kahmunityenglish.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Journal-Vol-3-Issue-1-Final-02-01-2016.pdf#page=162 (last accessed: November 2016).
Anju, M. 2014. Deēvakkūtt: Women Representation in Ritualistic Art Performance in Kerala. In: Research Scholar Journal on-line, 2(1): 290–301. http://www.researchscholar.co.in/downloads/43-anju.m.pdf (last accessed: November 2016).
Anupama, C. 2013. Ecological Studies on Select Sacred Groves of Malabar. PhD thesis University of Calicut, published on-line by Shodganga: http://hdl.handle.net/10603/6349 (last accessed: November 2016).
Arafath, Y. P. K. 2015. Saints, Serpents, and Terrifying Goddesses: Fertility Culture on the Malabar Coast (c.1500–1800). In: A. Winterbottom and F. Tesfaye (eds.). Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World, Volume Two: The Modern Period. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 99–124.
Ashley, W. 1978. Teyyam: A Performance in the Process of Secularization, ADG/CORD-Congress on Research in Dance Conference: Reports/Program. In: Dance Research Journal, 11(1/2): 57–70.
____. 1979. The Teyyam Kettu of Northern Kerala. In: The Drama Review, 23(2), Performance Theory: Southeast Asia Issue: 99–112.
—. 1993. Recoding: Ritual, Theatre, and Political Display in Kerala State, South India. MA dissertation (unpublished), New York University, NY.
Ashley W. and R. Holloman. 1982. From Ritual to Theatre in Kerala. In: The Drama Review, 26(2): 59–72.
____. 1990. Teyyam. In: F. P. Richmond, D. L. Swann and P. B. Zarrilli (eds.). Indian Theatre: Tradition of Performance. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press: 131–150.
Aubert, L. 2004. Les feux de la déesse—rituels villageois du Kerala. Lausanne: Payot.
Bailey, H., M. Bachler, S. B. Shum, A. Le Blanc, S. Popat, A. Rowley and M. Turner. 2009. Dancing on the Grid: Using E-Science Tools to Extend Choreographic Research. In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 367 (1898): 2793–2806.
Brillant-Giroux, V. 2014. Aspirations de la relève et nécessité de convaincre dans le culte du Teyyam. MA dissertation, Montreal: Montreal University.
Bourguignon, E. (ed.). 1973. Altered State of Consciousness and Social Change. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
—. 1989. Trance and Shamanism: What’s in a Name? In: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 21(1): 9–15.
—. 2004. Possession and Trance. In: Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. New York: Springer: 137–145.
Cardeña, E. and M. Winkelman (eds.). 2011. Altering Consciousness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Santa-Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Chandran, T. V. 2006. Ritual as Ideology: Text and Contex in Teyyam. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. New Delhi: D. K. Print World.
Clothey, F. W. 1978. The Many Faces of Murukan: The History and Meaning of a South Indian God. The Hague: Mouton-Walter de Gruyter.
Damodaran, M. P. 2007. Tradition Binds People Together: A Case Study on the Teyyaṃ Performance of North Malabar, Kerala. Project Report (unpublished). Chennai: University of Madras.
____. 2009. Identity through Nature-Man Interaction: A Synthetic Definition Based on the Teyyaṃ Performance in North Malabar. In: Journal of Human Ecology, 26(3): 191–196.
___. 2010. The Wonder That Is Teyyam. In: Bi-Annual Journal of Indian Art, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1(1): 28–37.
____. 2011. Family Makes A Master: A Case Study of the Malayans of North Malabar, Kerala. In: Voice of Intellectual Man, 1: 105–118.
De Martino, G. 2008. Théorie des moments, Tango, Transe: recherches pour une ré-conceptualisation de l’idée de transe et de bioénergie. MA dissertation (unpublished), Paris: Paris 8 University.
____. 2012. Une perspective sur le Teyyam dans la recherche de l’acteur. MA dissertation (unpublished), Paris: Paris 8 University.
Dixon, S. 2016. Cybernetic-Existentialism. In: International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 12(1): 11–30.
Dubost, P. 1971. Danses rituelles du Kerala. In: Le Nouveau Planète N°21: rites théâtres et possession. Paris: Planète.
Falletti, C. and G. Sofia. 2011. Nuovi dialoghi tra teatro e neuroscienze. Roma: Editoria & Spettacolo.
Fawcett, F. 1901. Nayars of Malabar. In: Madras Governmental Bulletin, III(3): 188–322.
Ferrari, P. F. and G. Rizzolatti (eds.). 2015. New Frontiers in Mirror Neurons Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Freeman, J. R. 1991. Purity and Violence: Sacred Power in the Teyyaṃ Worship of Malabar. PhD thesis (unpublished), University of Pennsylvania.
____. 1993. Performing Possession: Ritual and Consciousness in the Teyyam Complex of Northern Kerala. In: H. Brückner, L. Lothar, and M. Aditya (eds.). Flags of Flame: Studies in South Asian Folk Culture. New Delhi: Manohar: 109–138.
____. 1997. Possession Rites in the Tantric Temples: A Case Study from Northern Kerala. In: DISKUS Internet Journal of Religion, 2(2). http://basr.ac.uk/diskus_old/diskus1-6/FREEMAN.TXT (last accessed November 2016).
____. 1998. Formalized Possession among the Tantric and Teyyams of Malabar. In: South Asia Research, 18(1):73–98.
____. 1999a. Dynamic of the Person in the Worship and Sorcery of Malabar. In: J. Assayag and J. Tarabout (eds.). La possession en Asie du Sud: parole corps, territoire, Puruṣārtha, 21. Paris: EHESS: 149–181.
____. 1999b. Gods, Groves and the Culture of Nature in Kerala. In: Modern Asian Studies, 33(2): 257–302.
____. 2003. The Teyyaṃ Tradition of Kerala. In: G. Flood (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 307–326. http://cincinnatitemple.com/articles/BlackwellCompanionToHinduism.pdf.
____. 2006. Shifting Form of the Wandering Yogi: The Teyyaṃ of Bhairavan. In: D. Shulman and D. Tragarajan (eds.). Masked rituals and performance in South Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
____. 2013. Arresting Possession: Spirit Medium in the Multimedia of Malabar. In: U. Hüsken and A. Michaels (eds.). South Indian Festivals on the Move. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz: 135–168.
George, P. J. 2009. Wedded to Life. The Paliyans of Kerala. In: G. N. Devy,
G. V. Davis and K. K. Chakravarty (eds.). Indigeneity: Culture and Representation: Proceedings of the 2008 Chotro Conference on Indigenous Languages, Culture, and Society. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
Gründ, F. 1996. Teyyam du Kerala, Tchiloli de São Tomé: une approche ethnoscénologique. PhD (unpublished), Paris 8 University.
Gabriel T. 2010. Playing God: Belief and Ritual of the Muttappan Cult of North Malabar. Sheffield: Equinox.
Ishii, M. 2013. Playing with Perspectives: Spirit Possession, Mimesis, and Permeability in the Buuta Ritual in South India. In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 19(4): 795–812.
____. 2015. Wild Sacredness and the Poiesis of Transactional Networks: Relational Divinity and Spirit Possession in the Buta Ritual of South India. In: Asian Ethnology, 74(1): 87–110.
Kawai, N., M. Honda, S. Nakamura, P. Samatra, K. Sukardika, Y. Nakatani and T. Oohashi. 2001. Catecholamines and Opioid Peptides Increase in Plasma in Humans During Possession Trances. In: Neuroreport 12(16): 3419–3423.
Kearney, M. 1995. The Local and the Global: The Anthropology of Globalization and Transnationalism. In: Annual Review of Anthropology: 547–565.
Kent, E. F. 2013. Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India. New York: Oxford University Press.
Klein G. and S. Noeth. 2011. Emerging Bodies: the Performance of Worldmaking in Dance and Choreography. Biefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Koga, M. 2003. The Politics of Ritual and Art in Kerala: Controversies Concerning the Staging of Teyyaṃ. In: Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 15: 54–79. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjasas1989/2003/15/2003_15_54/_article (last accessed December 2016).
Koga, M. 2007. Validity of Sanskritization Model: In the Case of the Teyyam Ritual in South India. In: Shūkyō kenkyū, 81: 143–164.
Komath, R. 2013. Political Economy of the ‘Theyyam’—A Study of the Time-Space Homology. PhD dissertation. Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/30551 (last accessed: November 2016).
Krishnan, J. 2015. Adaptation As Intersemiotic Translation: A Study Focusing on the Visual Text Kalyattom, an Adaptation of Othello. In: Best IJHAMS, 3(2): 47–52.
Kurup, K. K. N. 1973. The Cult of Teyyaṃ and Hero Worship in Kerala. Indian Folklore Series 21. Calcutta: Indian Publications.
—. 1982. Memorial Tablets in Kerala. In: S. Settar and G. D. Sontheimer (eds.). Memorial Stones: A Study of Their Origin, Significance and Variety. Dharward: Institute of Indian Art History, Karnatak University: 243–250.
—. 1986. Teyyam: A Ritual Dance of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram: Department of Public Relations, Government of Kerala. http://vijaybabu.blogspot.it/2004/05/theyyam-ritual-dance-of-kerala-dr.html (last accessed: November 2016).
Lapassade, G. 1976. Essai sur la transe. Paris : Editions Universitaires.
Leeb, R., C. Keinrath, D. Friedman, C. Guger, R. Scherer, C. Neuper and G. Pfurtscheller. 2006. Walking by Thinking: The Brainwaves Are Crucial, Not the Muscles!. In: Presence, 15(5): 500–514.
Leiris, M. 1958. La possession et ses aspects théâtraux chez les Ethiopiens de Gondar. Paris: Plon.
Lewis, I. M. 2003. Trance, Possession, Shamanism and Sex. In: Anthropology of Consciousness, 14(1): 20–39.
Marar, T. V. G. 2010. Theyyam Arts in Malabar. Kannur: Samayam Publications.
Marchesini, R. 2002. Post-human: verso nuovi modelli di esistenza. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
—. 2009. Il tramonto dell’uomo: La prospettiva post-umanista. Bari: Dedalo
Menicacci A. and E. Quinz (eds.). 2001. La scena digitale: Nuovi media per la danza. Venezia: Marsilio.
Menon, D. M. 1993. The Moral Community of the teyyattam: Popular Culture in Late Colonial Malabar. In: Studies in History, 9: 187–217.
Mishra, J. N., and P. K. Chouhan. 2005. Marma and its Management. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Orientalia.
Nair, S. 2003. Theyyam Charisma. Kannur: AUM Communications.
Nair, K. K. 2013. By Sweat and Sword. Trade, Diplomacy and War in Kerala through the Ages. New Delhi: Manohar.
Nambiar, K S. 1996. The Ritual Art of Teyyaṃ and Bhūtārdhane Theatrical Performance with Spirit Mediumship. New Delhi: Navrang—Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
Nambiar, B. 1995. Photographing Teyyam. In: India International Centre Quarterly, 22(2/3): 132–134.
Nyssen, H. and S. Wespieser (eds.). 1996. La scène et la terre. Question d’ethnoscénologie. Paris: Maison des Cultures du Monde-Babel.
Oschman, J. L. 2000 (revised ed. 2015). Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. Edinburgh: Elsevier.
Oohashi, T., N. Kawai, M. Honda, S. Nakamura, M. Morimoto, E. Nishina and T. Maekawa. 2002. Electroencephalographic Measurement of Possession Trance in the Field. In: Clinical Neurophysiology, 113(3): 435–445.
Paniker, N. 1992 (revised ed. 2005). Nangiar Koothu. Documentation of Kutiyattam Series N.2. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal: 44–46.
Pallath, J. J. 1995. Teyyaṃ: An Analytical Study of the Folk Culture, Wisdom and Personality. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute.
Panikkar, K. N. 2001. “Teyyateyyam” Once a God-dancer, Now a God-head. In: Indian Literature, 45: 143–165.
Payyanad, R. 2001. Teyyam and our Times. In: Indian Folklife, 1(1): 11–12.
Pekala, R. J. and V. K. Kumar. 2000. Operationalizing Trance I: Rationale and Research Using a Psychophenomenological Approach. In: American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 43(2): 107–135.
Pekala, R. J. 2002. Operationalizing Trance II: Clinical Application Using a Psychophenomenological Approach. In: American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 44(3–4): 241–255.
Pereira, Filipe J. 2015. A Performance como Ritual—da Arte como Veiculo de Jerzy Grotowski ao Theyyam do Norte Malabar. MA dissertation, Coimbra University, Portugal. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/29746 (last accessed: November 2016).
Philomina, K. V. 2009. Folks Arts of Kerala. Kannur: Sreekandapuram.
Pillai, H. S. 1994. The Use and Functions of Rituals in Modern Malayalam Theatre. Their Relevance to the Ritual Concepts in the Theatres of Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski. PhD, Kottayam, Mahatma Gandhi University. http://ietd.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/606/13/13_appendix%20i.pdf (last accessed: November 2016).
Popat, S. 2002. The TRIAD Project: Using Internet Communications to Challenge Students’ Understandings of Choreography. In: Research in Dance Education, 3 (1): 21–34.
Popat, S. and S. Palmer. 2005. Creating Common Ground: Dialogues between Performance and Digital Technologies. In: International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 1(1): 47–65.
Popat, S. 2013. Invisible Connections: Dance, Choreography and Internet Communities. Oxford: Routledge.
Pradier, J. M. 1998. Ethnoscénologie: la chair de l’esprit. Paper on-line, UQAM. https://effetsdepresence.uqam.ca/upload/files/articles/ethnoscenologie.pdf (last accessed: December 2016).
—. 2001. L’ethnoscénologie. Vers une scénologie générale. In: L’Annuaire théâtral: revue québécoise d’études théâtrales, 29: 51–68.
Raji, R. and K. Raveendran. 2011. Worship and Possible Conservation of Plants with Special Reference to Hindu Cult. In: Journal of Ecobiology, 28(2): 159–162.
Rizzolatti, G. and C. Sinigaglia. 2008. Mirrors in the Brain: How Our Minds Share Actions and Emotions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rizzolatti, G., L. Fogassi and V. Gallese. 2006. Mirrors in the Mind. In: Scientific American, 295(5): 54–61.
Sandten, C. 2013. Kaliyattam (the Play of God) by Jayaraj-Polymorphous and Postcolonial Poetics in an Indian Othello-Adaptation. In: J. Gohrisch and E. Grunkemeier (eds.). Postcolonial Studies across the Disciplines. Amsterdam–New York: Rodopi: 305–322.
Seth, P. 2000. Reflections of the Spirit: The Teyyam of Malabar. New York: Dialectica.
Sharma, K. D. 1989. The Calcutta International Theatre, Dance, and Martial Arts Seminar and Festival: A Week of Revelation and Confusion. In: Asian Theatre Journal, 6(2): 194–201.
Singleton, B. 1997. K. N. Panikkar’s Teyyateyyam: Resisting Interculturalism through Ritual Practice. In: Theatre Research International, 22: 162–169.
Smith, F. M. 2012. The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature and Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press.
Sieler, R. 2015. Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets—Medicine and Martial Arts in South India. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sofia, G. (ed.). 2009. Dialoghi tra teatro e neuroscienze. Roma: Edizioni Alegre.
—. 2013. Le Acrobazie dello Spettatore. Dal teatro alle neuroscienze e ritorno. Roma: Bulzoni.
Tarabout, G. 1986. Sacrifier et donner à voir en pays Malabar, les fêtes de temple au Kerala (Inde du Sud): étude anthropologique. Paris: EFEO.
____. 2005. Malabar Gods, Nation-Building and World Culture: On Perceptions of the Local and the Global. In: C. J. Fuller and J. Assayag (eds.). Globalizing India: Perspectives from below. London: Anthem: 185–209.
Trikaripur, S. A. 2013. Mooring Mirror: A Mooring Mirror between Man and God. Chirakkal–Kannur: Kerala Folklore Academy.
Uchiyamada, Y. 1995. Sacred Grove (Kaavu): Ancestral Land of ‘Landless Agricultural Labourers’ in Kerala, India. PhD. London School of Economics & Political Science, London.
—. 1998. The Grove Is Our Temple: Contested Representations of Kaavu in Kerala, South India. In: L. Rival (ed.). The Social Life of Trees: Anthropological Perspectives on Tree Symbolism. Oxford: Berg: 177–197.
____. 2002. Projecting Textual Identities on the Forest of Kuravas in Kerala. In: Puruṣārtha, 23: 111–129.
Thurston, E. 1912, Omen and Superstitions of Southern India. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Vadakkiniyil, D. 2009. Teyyam: The Poiesis of Rite and God in Malabar, South India. PhD dissertation (unpublished). Bergen University.
____. 2010. Images of Transgression: Teyyam in Malabar. In: Social Analysis, 54(2): 130–150.
Vijisha, P. and E. G. V. Raja. 2016. Existence of Untouchability towards Maari Theyyam—A Traditional Art Form of Kerala. In: Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4(03): 260–263.
Vinod, A. R. 2014. Visual Aesthetics of Form and Colour in Theyyam and Padayani. PhD thesis, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/25900 (last accessed December 2016).
Zarrilli, P. (ed.). 1995 (second edition 2005). Acting (Re)considered: A Theoretical and Practical Guide. London: Routledge. https://eclass.uop.gr/modules/document/file.php/TS235/Acting%2B(Re)considered.pdf (last accessed: December 2016).
—. 1998. When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu, A South Indian Martial Art. New Delhi: Oxford University Press India.
____. 2009. Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski. New York: Routledge.
Winkelman, M. 1986. Trance States: A Theoretical Model and Cross-Cultural Analysis. In: Ethos, 14(2): 174–203.
Wohlschlag, D. 2004. Le calendrier malayālam. In: A. Laurent. Les feux de la déesse—rituels villageois du Kerala, Annexe I. Lausanne: Payot: 381–383.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
