Dancing Culture Religion

Sam Gill is professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Perhaps best known as a scholar of Native American religions, Gill expands his investigations of rituals and myths to include dancing and its significance for religious studies. His research travels have taken him to a wider world from Bali to Mali and beyond. In his new book, filled with philosophical and phenomenological insights, Gill engages his readers both experientially and in the experience(s) of dancing. He emphasizes activity over spectatorship by using the term dancing instead of dance in his title and from page one throughout all six chapters. He expands the boundaries of ritual study from body and gestures to include movement, rhythm, and the dance-induced experience of trance. The innovative style of his text is balanced by scholarly acumen; however, like others who span the great divide between the intellectual and the experiential dimensions of religion, he offers a selective bibliography. Gill's work suggests an exciting new methodology. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

• Chapter 1: MovingChapter 2: GesturingChapter 3: Self-OtheringChapter 4: Playingchapter 5: SeducingChapter 6: Dancing