Yoga and White Public Space
This article connects recent work in critical race studies, museum studies, and performance studies to larger conversations happening across the humanities and social sciences on the role of performance in white public spaces. Specifically, I examine the recent trend of museums such as the Natural H...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/12/669 |
| _version_ | 1797544775013892096 |
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| author | Rumya S. Putcha |
| author_facet | Rumya S. Putcha |
| author_sort | Rumya S. Putcha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article connects recent work in critical race studies, museum studies, and performance studies to larger conversations happening across the humanities and social sciences on the role of performance in white public spaces. Specifically, I examine the recent trend of museums such as the Natural History Museum of London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, to name but a few, offering meditation and wellness classes that purport to “mirror the aesthetics or philosophy of their collections.” Through critical ethnography and discursive analysis I examine and unpack this logic, exposing the role of cultural materialism and the residue of European imperialism in the affective economy of the museum. I not only analyze the use of sound and bodily practices packaged as “yoga” but also interrogate how “yoga” cultivates a sense of space and place for museum-goers. I argue that museum yoga programs exhibit a form of somatic orientalism, a sensory mechanism which traces its roots to U.S. American cultural-capitalist formations and other institutionalized forms of racism. By locating yoga in museums within broader and longer processes of racialization I offer a critical race and feminist lens to view these sorts of performances. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:06:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bcdba9cfa210433ca0803b775dea5de1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:06:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-bcdba9cfa210433ca0803b775dea5de12023-11-21T00:42:19ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442020-12-01111266910.3390/rel11120669Yoga and White Public SpaceRumya S. Putcha0Institute for Women’s Studies and the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAThis article connects recent work in critical race studies, museum studies, and performance studies to larger conversations happening across the humanities and social sciences on the role of performance in white public spaces. Specifically, I examine the recent trend of museums such as the Natural History Museum of London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, to name but a few, offering meditation and wellness classes that purport to “mirror the aesthetics or philosophy of their collections.” Through critical ethnography and discursive analysis I examine and unpack this logic, exposing the role of cultural materialism and the residue of European imperialism in the affective economy of the museum. I not only analyze the use of sound and bodily practices packaged as “yoga” but also interrogate how “yoga” cultivates a sense of space and place for museum-goers. I argue that museum yoga programs exhibit a form of somatic orientalism, a sensory mechanism which traces its roots to U.S. American cultural-capitalist formations and other institutionalized forms of racism. By locating yoga in museums within broader and longer processes of racialization I offer a critical race and feminist lens to view these sorts of performances.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/12/669yogaperformance studiescritical whiteness studiesorientalismtourismmuseums |
| spellingShingle | Rumya S. Putcha Yoga and White Public Space Religions yoga performance studies critical whiteness studies orientalism tourism museums |
| title | Yoga and White Public Space |
| title_full | Yoga and White Public Space |
| title_fullStr | Yoga and White Public Space |
| title_full_unstemmed | Yoga and White Public Space |
| title_short | Yoga and White Public Space |
| title_sort | yoga and white public space |
| topic | yoga performance studies critical whiteness studies orientalism tourism museums |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/12/669 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rumyasputcha yogaandwhitepublicspace |