Just wanted to pass on a head's up that Elizabeth Wayland Barber's wonderful book The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance is back in print, in paperback.
Yes, I have... was delighted to finally be able to get a copy. In the book, Barber brings together her expertise as a philologist, archaeologist, and serious student of European folkdance, especially women's dances together to discuss women's ritual, women's regalia, and their origins in the deep human past. She does not shy away from discussing the men's regalia and a bunch of the sexist ways they behave in the few mixed older European dances still performed today.
There is so much in the book, but one of the things that may surprise some people as I am part of an Indigenous community in Canada, is that I was also happy to learn about positive, constructive elements of European cultures. It seems to me there needs to be a lot more work by people of those heritages on discussing and bringing back the parts of their cultures that aren't predicated on colonization, as that will help stop the bad cycles of behaviour that are harming everyone.
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Just wanted to pass on a head's up that Elizabeth Wayland Barber's wonderful book The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance is back in print, in paperback.
Have you read it? What did you learn from it? Very interested . . .
Yes, I have... was delighted to finally be able to get a copy. In the book, Barber brings together her expertise as a philologist, archaeologist, and serious student of European folkdance, especially women's dances together to discuss women's ritual, women's regalia, and their origins in the deep human past. She does not shy away from discussing the men's regalia and a bunch of the sexist ways they behave in the few mixed older European dances still performed today.
There is so much in the book, but one of the things that may surprise some people as I am part of an Indigenous community in Canada, is that I was also happy to learn about positive, constructive elements of European cultures. It seems to me there needs to be a lot more work by people of those heritages on discussing and bringing back the parts of their cultures that aren't predicated on colonization, as that will help stop the bad cycles of behaviour that are harming everyone.
That is fascinating . . . I'm going to check it out! Thanks for the tip.