JSLH is delighted to invite you to the upcoming lecture titled “The Gender Paradox:  negotiating continuity and change in Martial arts tradition of Bengal”, which is part of the Living Traditions cross-elective course at JSLH co-taught with Prof @Poulomi Das.

This talk draws from my Master’s dissertation in Dance anthropology and ethnography and presents an autoethnographic, multi-modal study of Lathi Khela—a martial arts dance tradition practiced in rural Bangladesh. Based on research conducted between 2016 and 2025, the study combines fieldwork, digital ethnography, and visual storytelling through an ongoing short documentary film project.

Once developed as a martial art in colonial Bengal as a defense strategy, Lathi Khela continues to evolve and endure despite its local popularity and decline of formal patronage systems. The lecture focuses on the Narail district, where practitioners sustain and transform the tradition through intergenerational knowledge, embodied practices, and notably, the inclusion of women since 2008. Through this case study, I will explore how gender, kinship, prestige and creativity shape the living and precarious nature of performance tradition and its bearers.

Venue: T1-G04
Date: 15th April
Time: 6:15 PM

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