Description
Book SynopsisThe relationship between religion and dance is as old as humankind. Contemporary methods for studying this relationship date back a century. The difference between these two time frames is significant: scholars are still developing theories and methods capable of illuminating this vast history that take account of their limited place within it. A History of Theory and Method in the Study of Religion and Dance takes on a primary challenge of doing so: overcoming a conceptual dichotomy between “religion” and “dance” forged in the colonial era that justified western Christian hostility towards dance traditions across six continents over six centuries. Beginning with its enlightenment roots, LaMothe narrates a selective history of this dichotomy, revealing its ongoing work in separating dance studies from religious studies. Turning to the Bushmen of the African Kalahari, LaMothe introduces an ecokinetic approach that provides scholars with conceptual resources for mapping the generative interdependence of phenomena that appear as “dance” and/or “religion.”
Trade Review"Through her interdisciplinary approach, LaMothe opens the field in manifold directions. Her work stimulates a need for more research on the complex relationship between dance and religion." Tatjana K. Schnütgen, University of Regensburg, Reading Religion, May 2019.
Table of ContentsA History of Theory and Method in the Study of Religion and Dance Past, Present, and Future Kimerer L. LaMothe Abstract Keywords 1 Where and How to Begin? 2 Defining Religion, Excluding Dance: A Prehistory of the Study of Religion 3 Founding a Field: Max Müller and Lilly Grove 4 Cracks in the Case for Colonialism 5 Dancing into the Future: Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis 6 The Bible Says Do It: W.O.E. Oesterley and the Task for Christian Theology 7 Better Together: Émile Durkheim and the Sociology of Religion 8 Religion and/or/is/not Dance: Gerardus van der Leeuw and The Phenomenology of Religion 9 Branching and Crossing 1: Religious Studies and Dance Studies 10 Branching and Crossing 2: Art Dance and Sacred Dance 11 An Ecokinetic Approach: Learning from the Bushmen of the African Kalahari 12 Shaking for God: The Bodily Act of Becoming Human Coda. Moving On: A Call for More References
