Tradition, ideology and the history of Hindustani music in the United States in the 20th century

This dissertation concerns the introduction of Hindustani music, the canonical tradition of North India, to the United States during the 20 th century. I approach Hindustani music as a phenomenon where conflicting interpretations of tradition and authority have continued to be negotiated, first in India, with respect to the rise of Indian nationalism, and through the music's introduction to the American public over the course of the 20 th century. Central to this discussion is a recognition of the inherent tension between the authority of tradition as a cultural practice, and authority linked with legitimation and ideological discourse. This polarization in the concept of authority reflects contrasting approaches to the interpretation of cultural phenomena represented by the schools of critical theory and hermeneutic philosophy.; In this dissertation I narrate major episodes that give shape to this unique history, and work to characterize the changing cultural context within which the music has been received. Those episodes include: the recontextualization of Hindustani music in the public sphere in India during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the philosophical and performative discourses of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and Uday Shankar, appropriated in the context of the American engagement with modernity in the early 20th century; the importation and presentation of Hindustani music as a gesture of cultural diplomacy in the aftermath of World War II; the appropriation of Hindustani music by the American counterculture in the 1960s, and Ravi Shankar's dramatic rise to popular acclaim; contexts for learning Hindustani music in the United States, from programs in ethnomusicology to contemporary enactments of the guru-shishya parampara (teacher-disciple relationship); the establishment of the South Asian immigrant community, and the founding of organizations that constitute an enduring infrastructure for Hindustani performance.; This research indicates that Orientalist conceptions continue to permeate cultural understandings of the music's history and aesthetic value, and have impacted aspects of musical practice. The authority and authenticity of the tradition continues to be negotiated, and is expressed in terms of the music's association with Hindu spirituality, musical lineage and inheritance, and the fundamental relationships between performer and audience, teacher and student.