UI Press | Drid WIlliams | Anthropology and the Dance: Ten Lectures (2d ed.)

Anthropology and the Dance

Ten Lectures (2d ed.)

Historical examination of the theories of dance and human movement

Now in paperback, Anthropology and the Dance is a lively, controversial examination and discussion of theories of dance by the pioneer of the anthropology of human movement. Drid Williams's definitive text is explicitly intended for graduate students in anthropology faced with the wide spectrum of theories of human movement, including the dance, sign language, martial arts, and rituals. With its groundbreaking approach to this previously unexamined field, however, Anthropology and the Dance brings the study of human movement to readers in fields such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, ethnomusicology, library science, physical education, history, music, linguistics, dance, and dance education.

Williams examines subjects ranging from Aboriginal and African dances to the Royal Ballet, and makes a compelling case for moving beyond the Western view of the dance as mere entertainment, locating human movement firmly and irrefutably within the sphere of serious study.

Anthropology and the Dance: Ten Lectures is the thoroughly rewritten second edition of Ten Lectures on Theories of the Dance (1991). Included are a glossary of terms, indexes and notes, an updated bibliography, and an appendix, "An Exercise in Applied Personal Anthropology."

"Dancing is only one of the many forms of expression of human structured systems of actions. It is true that it is a potent form, because dances are among the most complex systems of actions."--Drid Williams

Drid Williams was Senior Lecturer at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya (1990–94). She has written numerous papers about human movement studies and first taught the subject at New York University (1979–84), then at the University of Sydney in Australia (1986–90). She is Senior Editor of the Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement and the author of the series Readings in Anthropology and Human Movement.