This edited collection is compiled from the first MENACA (Middle East, North African, and Central Asian) Dance and Music Symposium (Pomona College, March 13-16, 2023), and includes a wide variety of readings on Middle Eastern Dance and Music. The writers range from pioneers in the field of Middle Eastern dance and dance studies, from Barbara Sellers-Young, Karin van Nieuwkerk, and Anthony Shay to a range of newer voices. These authors come from dance, performance studies, theatre, and anth...

This book is about the folk: the folk in folk dance, the folk in folklore, the folk in folk wisdom. When we see folk dance on the stage or in a tourist setting, which is the way in which many of us experience folk dance, the question arises are these the “real folk” performing their authentic dances? Or are they urban, well trained, carefully-rehearsed professional dancers who make their livelihood as representatives of a specific nation-state acting as the folk? Or something in between? T...

Everyone who viewed the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games can understand the power of dance and mass movement in the service of politics. While examples of such public performances and huge festivals are familiar in Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union and today's North Korea, this new book addresses the lesser known examples of Spain under Franco, the Dominican Republic, Iran, Croatia and Uzbekistan, all of which have been subjected to various political regimes.

When Men Dance explores the intersection of dance and perceptions of male gender and sexuality across history and different cultural contexts. Chapters tackle the history and dilemmas that revolve around dance and notions of masculinity from a variety of dance studies perspectives, and are accompanied by fascinating personal histories that complement their themes.

People all over the world dance traditional and popular dances that have been staged for purposes of representing specific national and ethnic groups. Anthony Shay suggests these staged dance productions be called “ethno identity dances”, especially to replace the term “folk dance,” which Shay suggests should refer to the traditional dances found in village settings as an organic part of village and tribal life. Shay investigates the many motives that impel people to dance in these staged ...

Dance intersects with ethnicity in a powerful variety of ways and at a broad set of venues. Dance practices and attitudes about ethnicity have sometimes been the source of outright discord, as when African Americans were - and sometimes still are - told that their bodies are 'not right' for ballet, when Anglo Americans painted their faces black to perform in minstrel shows, when 19th century Christian missionaries banned the performance of particular native dance traditions throughout much...

Assistive Technology Service Delivery: A Practical Guide for Disability and Employment Professionals provides professionals working in vocational rehabilitation with the guidelines and methodologies they need to carry out their daily work at a high standard. Crucially, the techniques and tools described in the book are based on evidence gathered in rigorous research. Chapters cover an introduction to the accommodations system, the role of assistive technology as an accommodation and eviden...

Along with its much vaunted progress in scientific and economic realms, our century has witnessed the rise of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in the history of mankind. Even with the collapse of Marxism, current references to “ethnic cleansing” remind us that tyranny persists in our own age and shows no sign of abating. Daniel Chirot offers an important and timely study of modern tyrants, both revealing the forces which allow them to come to power and helping us to predict where the...

Laura L. Adams offers unique insight into nation building in Central Asia during the post-Soviet era through an exploration of Uzbekistan’s production of national culture in the 1990s. As she explains, after independence the Uzbek government maintained a monopoly over ideology, exploiting the remaining Soviet institutional and cultural legacies. The state expressed national identity through tightly controlled mass spectacles, including theatrical and musical performances. Adams focuses on ...

This volume makes a unique contribution to the literature on nations and nationalism by examining why nations remain a vibrant and strong social cohesive despite the threat of globalization.Regardless of predictions forecasting the demise of the nation-state in the global era, the nation persists as an important source of identity, community, and collective memory for most of the world's population. More than simply a corrective to the many scholarly but premature epitaphs for the ...

Throughout centuries of European colonial domination, the bodies of Middle Eastern dancers, male and female, move sumptuously and seductively across the pages of Western travel journals, evoking desire and derision, admiration and disdain, allure and revulsion. This profound ambivalence forms the axis of an investigation into Middle Eastern dance—an investigation that extends to contemporary belly dance.Stavros Stavrou Karayanni, through historical investigation, theoretical analys...

Recent political changes in Central Asia, where the United States is replacing Russia as the dominant power, are having a profound effect on Russian speakers in the region. These people, formerly perceived as progressive and engaging with Europe, are now confronted by the erasure of their literary, musical, cinematic and journalistic culture, as local ethnic and American cultures become much stronger.This book examines the predicament of Russian culture in Central Asia, looking at ...