Feeling initially aimless and out of place in rural Nepal where she accompanied her anthropologist husband for a year of fieldwork, Katharine Bjork Guneratne turned to writing to make sense of her sojourn in the shadow of the Himalaya. The resulting book is both an acute portrait of a village and an intimate account of her struggles to adapt to a different way of life. Like the best cultural travel narratives, In the Circle of the Dance draws on the author's experiences to illuminate both exterior and interior worlds. Bjork's book is in many ways a primer on the realities of fieldwork, from setting up house to participating in the work of the village women to finding ways to communicate across cultural divides. It describes how this outsider achieved a gradual and provisional inclusion in the community, an inclusion represented by her participation in a traditional women's circle dance. The book also depicts the effects of modernization and tourism on a society that remained closed to the West well into this century, while offering comparative insights about wider South Asian cultures. The author's lyrical, frequently moving descriptions of everyday life guide her readers through the stages of her cultural apprenticeship. In the end, as Bjork joins the circle dance, she is a stranger to the community still, but a familiar and welcome one.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entering the Circle,
By rockcr (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In the Circle of the Dance: Notes of an Outsider in Nepal (Paperback)
This book depicts the adventures of a young American woman staying in a Tharu village in Nepal. While her husband was there as an Anthropologist, she was there as a visitor. The author tries to adapt to everyday life in the village, and in doing so gives us a unique insight into what it is like to be a young Tharu woman--as the author, herself, goes through a period of discovery about what it means to be a woman.
5.0 out of 5 stars
very thoughtful and insightful,
By Joe Niemczura "nursing faculty" (Honolulu Hawaii) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In the Circle of the Dance: Notes of an Outsider in Nepal (Paperback)
Before I travel I always look for a book to describe the country. I don't like the usual travelogue that might just describe the monuments or temples.
I look for one which describes the every day lives of the people there. And so I ordered this book.... wow. It is a description of rural life in a village in the terai of Nepal, the lowlands near the border with India. The author spent time with the local women while her spouse did his field work for an anthropology PhD. The writing goes between descriptions of rural life and includes some passages detailing what was going through her mind at the time in terms of how her own cultural background influenced her realtionships in the host culture. The perspective which she brought was amazing to me - a very mature and thoughful outlook indeed! After my own trip to Nepal I will know more about whether to recommend this I suppose - but in the meantime, I enjoyed reading it, it was wonderfully done, and it stands by itself very well as an example of wonderful travel writing esp if you are interested in the daily life of people from a very differetn culture than our own... Joe Niemczura Honolulu Hawaii
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First Sentence:
"Tapainko bihe bhayo?" Our Nepali teacher paused in front of my desk. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ram Bahadur, Tulsi Prasad, Indra Prasad, United States, Nepali Congress, National Park, School Leaving Certificate, Sri Lanka, Durbar Marg, Good Morning, Indra Jatra, The Rising Nepal, Chandra Lal, New Road, Peace Corps, Ashta Mangala, Ratna Park, Setting Up House New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
"Tapainko bihe bhayo?" Our Nepali teacher paused in front of my desk. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ram Bahadur, Tulsi Prasad, Indra Prasad, United States, Nepali Congress, National Park, School Leaving Certificate, Sri Lanka, Durbar Marg, Good Morning, Indra Jatra, The Rising Nepal, Chandra Lal, New Road, Peace Corps, Ashta Mangala, Ratna Park, Setting Up House New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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