Donnerstag
23
MAI

18.00 Uhr

Sovereign Performance: Toward an Aesthetic of the Ambulatory and the Aquatic.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, Universität Heidelberg, Centre of East Asian Studies
Prof. Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University (USA), History Department

This lecture discusses singular events in the life-stories of Gandhi and Mao when their bodies were efficaciously used in a performative politics that served as assertions of somatic sovereignty on the part of both men. In Gandhi’s case, we have chosen his famous Salt March in 1930 when the barely-clad Mahatma walked more than 200 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi to make a fistful of salt at the ocean’s edge with which he challenged the legitimacy of British rule. The March, more than any other prior act, brought Gandhi’s bare-and-spare—and mobile—body to global visibility, and attracted a bevy of journalists to the scene of action. We focus on how the March captured the artistic imagination in India and abroad, then and since, with a view towards comparing the Mahatma’s ambulatory performance on land with Mao’s aquatic theatrics.

One of the most significant events displaying the type of body politics for which the Maoist era is renowned is the Chairman’s famous swim in the Yangzi river on July 16, 1966. The event marked Mao’s return to power at 72 after a period of respite. It was staged to demonstrate Mao’s fitness and capacity for continuing leadership. The event has since been commemorated on its anniversary in Wuhan and elsewhere in the country when tens of thousands thus express their continued devotion to the Chairman.

Adresse

Völkerkundemuseum VPST

Hauptstraße 235

69117 Heidelberg

Homepage Veranstaltung

http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsevents/events/exhibition-envisioning-asia/program.html

Veranstalter

Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS); Völkerkundemuseum VPST

Alle Termine der Veranstaltung '„No Parallel? The Fatherly Bodies of Gandhi and Mao”':

This lecture series "No Parallel? The Fatherly Bodies of Gandhi and Mao" focuses on the two hyper-visible men of the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi and Chairman Mao, who had also been the object of Walter Bosshard’s fascination. It considers how these men have been transformed over the course of the last century through the work of visual imagery and image-events into globally recognizable “bio-icons.” Situated at the intersection of the visual politics of masculinity and the cultural politics of fatherhood, the talks seek to illuminate how the corporeal is critical to the affective and ethical reach of such bio-icons within the imagined communities of their respective nations.

Mittwoch, 15. Mai 2019, 18.00 Uhr

Producing Charisma: Clothing and Unclothing the Fatherly Body

Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, Universität Heidelberg, Centre of East Asian Studies Prof. Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University (USA), History Department

Donnerstag, 23. Mai 2019, 18.00 Uhr

Sovereign Performance: Toward an Aesthetic of the Ambulatory and the Aquatic.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, Universität Heidelberg, Centre of East Asian Studies Prof. Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University (USA), History Department

Mittwoch, 29. Mai 2019, 18.00 Uhr

Absent Presences: Death of a Father.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, Universität Heidelberg, Centre of East Asian Studies Prof. Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University (USA), History Department