This study offers an autoethnographic account of a homosexual man as a means of unfolding the role of embodied experience in identity formation. The account explicates how consumption of a transcendental and paradoxical form of dance called Tandava, or 'the cosmic ballet', empowers someone to deal with identity issues at a key liminal juncture. In particular, we explore how the homosexual body mobilizes the embodied experience of dance to negotiate identity issues. The dance, the sonic effects of drumbeats and Shiva Tandava Strotam (hymn), and the symbolism inherent in material objects such as the trident become mechanisms of personal agency.

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Rituals, particularly religious rituals, may play a significant role in times of crises. Often, these rituals undergo revision in order to adapt to the changing needs of the time. In this paper, we investigate recent unofficially revised Hindu religious rituals as performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The multifarious creative interplay between Hindu tradition and change is illustrated through four cases – the religious festival of Durga Puja, the devotional songs or bhajans, the ritual of lighting lamps or diyas, and the fire rituals or havans. We offer a systematic discourse analysis of online news articles and YouTube posts that illuminate several aspects of ritual revision during unsettled times. We focus on the changes that were made to ritual elements – who was in control of these alterations, how were these modifications made, and what potential benefits did these revisions offer to the community of ritual participants. Based on our findings, we highlight public policy implications regarding the involvement of diverse social actors, the creation of faith in science, the creation of feelings of unity and agency, and the amplification of local ritual modifications on a national scale.

This collection of six poems is based on my reflections on growing up as a gay man in a heteronormative society where same-sex indulgence was outlawed until recently. The previously present anti-sodomy statute in India, political and religious concerns, and classbased social structures that converged to form an unfavorable atmosphere for gendered minorities, serves as the backdrop for these introspective poems. The poems express issues around my sexual identity formation, the intersectional oppression I faced due to my sexuality, the challenging internal conflicts I encountered when I was in "the closet," the dread I endured for years and that I still embody, and my intense desire for freedom and an authentic identity.

While many consumer behavior studies have investigated consumer coping, few have considered it as a source of positive benefits in addition to being a matter of necessity. In this paper, we draw on Bourdieu’s notion of capital to introduce the concept of coping capital—the intentional or unintentional accumulation of resources, such as emotional and epistemic-competencies and skills resulting from coping with adversity, that may thereafter exist in an embodied state in the form of mental and physical dispositions—dispositions that later provide benefits in life. We suggest that the benefits of coping capital may be determined using either a prospective or a retrospective approach. These benefits may be anticipated or unanticipated when intentionally coping with adversity, while the benefits are predominantly unanticipated when unintentionally coping. By conceptualizing coping capital, our study makes a domain-level conceptual contribution to research on consumer coping. In addition the concept of coping capital may have broader implications outside of the domain of consumption.