Sound and identity explored through the Indian Tamil diaspora and Tamil Nadu

ABSTRACT

Sound is very much a part of identity. While identities are neither singular nor stable, they can be expressed through sound in daily life. Scholars have used soundscapes in geography to understand urban environments within cities, rural national park systems, and provide musical insights into cultural landscapes. However, furthering discussion on the role of sound in identity can move concepts of soundscape and cultural landscape forward. The goal of this paper is to investigate how identity and culture, though they are dynamic, can be performed and stabilized through sound in particular moments and yet also exist banally. Soundscapes through both spoken language and music can give geographers further insights on identity and place. Sound can also show how non-dominant identities distinguish themselves from larger national identities. With research in Tamil Nadu, India and Cleveland, OH, this paper examines sound’s role in identity, belonging, and community through lived experience and performance. Focusing on intersections and tensions between soundscapes, this paper investigates how the Tamil soundscape is used to assert and perform identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Sound
• soundscapes
• cultural landscape
• Tamil Nadu
• Indian Tamil diaspora
• Indian diaspora

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Christabel Devadoss is a PhD Candidate at West Virginia University.

Notes

1. The saraswati veena is a violin-like instrument and mridangam, kanjira, and thavil are percussion-like instruments. Because the instruments listed are more broadly South Indian, the names are presented in Sanskrit or English and not Tamil. Musicians use the veena and violin in North Indian music, but they often use them in a different style.

2. The other major classical music tradition, Hindustani, is linked with the North and its influences including Persian, Arabic, and others. Although Karnatak music is associated with Southern India and reaches to parts of Sri Lanka, Thyagaraja was born in Tamil Nadu and events are named after him.

3. During the Sangam Age, poets and scholars gathered under what is now referred to as a Sangam (Kalidos 1976). Today, many Tamil cultural organizations use the name of the location (country or city) followed by “Sangam”.

4. From 600 CE to British colonial rule, the area of Tamil Nadu was governed by a variety of kingdoms and dynasties, particularly the Telugu-speaking Nayaks of the Vijayanagara Empire.

5. Old Tamil kritis (a composed piece in Karnatak music), previously forgotten, were revived once again and can be seen in many concerts currently (Viswanathan and Allen 2004).

6. Although the diaspora is recognized with the national origins reflecting the modern Indian nation-state, regionalism is strong in the wave of post-1965 Indian migrants (Bhardwaj and Rao 1990; Lessinger 2003). The “persistent localism”, as Singh (2003) describes, in the Indian diaspora alludes to the existence of a diaspora within a diaspora (Bhardwaj and Rao 1990; Singh 2003). Concepts of “fission” and “fusion”, as Rao (1988) describes, categorize the immigration process of Asian Indians in phases. Phases 1–2 describe the first-generation as experiencing “fission” in an augmented sense of identity and regionalism in language and custom, while phases 3–4 utilize “fusion”, perhaps in the second generation to create a sense of pan-Indianess (Rao 1998).

7. Other official Tamil organizations include the World Tamil Conferences, started in 1967 in Kuala Lumpur and the World Tamil Federation initiated in Chennai in 2002 (Bhat and Narayan 2010).

8. Though Thyagaraja composed mostly in Telugu, he was born in Tamil Nadu when it was ruled by Telugu-speaking authorities and his Tamil origins are emphasized.

9. This does not necessarily indicate that these languages were not present, only that they were not as prevalent in the situations that I encountered.

10. I did not have the opportunity to visit Muslim homes in either place.

11. Bharatanatyam is the traditional dance of Tamil Nadu (Arnold 2000).

12. This is also true of other regional Indian languages in opposition to Hindi; however, it is often amplified in Southern regions, particularly Tamil Nadu (Kalra and Asokan 2014).

13. Pongal is often celebrated in the United States close to the New Year. Members celebrate rural and tribal aspects of life in Tamil Nadu. While “Diwali”, as it is called in North India, is a Hindu festival celebrated throughout India, “Deepavali” is the name used in South India.

14. All interviewees’ names are pseudonyms.

15. I was not able to verify his statement regarding AIR.

16. Although with new leadership in India, this may change in the future.