Dance and the Body Politic in Northern Greece / Jane K. Cowan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cowan, Jane K., author.

Series:

Princeton modern Greek studies.

Princeton Modern Greek Studies ; 36

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex in dance--Greece.

Dance--Anthropological aspects--Greece.

Greece--Social life and customs--20th century.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Valued for their sensual and social intensity, Greek dance-events are often also problematical for participants, giving rise to struggles over position, prestige, and reputation. Here Jane Cowan explores how the politics of gender is articulated through the body at these culturally central, yet until now ethnographically neglected, celebrations in a class-divided northern Greek town. Portraying the dance-event as both a highly structured and dynamic social arena, she approaches the human body not only as a sign to be deciphered but as a site of experience and an agent of practice. In describing the multiple ideologies of person, gender, and community that townspeople embody and explore as they dance, Cowan presents three different settings: the traditional wedding procession, the "Europeanized" formal evening dance of local civic associations, and the private party. She examines the practices of eating, drinking, talking, gifting, and dancing, and the verbal discourse through which celebrants make sense of each other's actions. Paying particular attention to points of tension and moments of misunderstanding, she analyzes in what ways these social situations pose different problems for men and women.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One. Place, Distinctions, Identities

Chapter Two. Gender, Household, and Community

Chapter Three. Everyday Sociability as Gendered Practice

Chapter Four. Dancing Signs: Deciphering the Body in Wedding Celebrations

Chapter Five. The Orchestration of Association in Formal Evening Dances

Chapter Six. Male Prestige and the Eruption of Conflict

Chapter Seven. Ambivalent Pleasures: Dance as a Problem for Women

Chapter Eight. Aphrodite's Tables: Breakdown, Blame, and Female Sexuality

Chapter Nine. Because of the Dance

Works Cited

Index

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-244).

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

1-4008-8437-3

OCLC:

966847680