Dance as Third Space

This volume breaks new ground by examining how dance as postcolonial "Third Space" transforms studies of religion. International experts explore controversies about dance and its boundary-crossing potential in diverse religious traditions, interdisciplinary theoretical reflections, Christian dance theologies, and interreligious and intercultural encounters. Dance is a "Third Space", a postcolonial experimental field for the practice and studies of religion(s), spirituality, interreligious and intercultural encounters crossing boundaries.

Dance plays an important role in many religious traditions, in rites of passage, processions, healing rituals or festivals. But it is also controversial, especially in Christianity. Colonial European Christian discourses tend to separate dance from religion(s) and spirituality. This volume explores dance as Third Space, following Homi Bhabha's postcolonial metaphor. The Inter-Dance approach combines interdisciplinary theoretical considerations with case studies. International experts examine dance controversies and discourses from the early church to World Christianity, as well as in Hasidic Judaism, Greek mysteries, Islamic Sufism, West African Togolese religions, and Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. Christian dance theologies are unfolded and the boundary-crossing potential of dance in interreligious and intercultural encounters is explored. The volume breaks new ground in how dance as ephemeral performative art, embodied thought and gendered discourse can transform studies of religion.

Autorentext
Dr. Shahzad Bashir is Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies and History at the Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Dr. Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué is Professor of Ecumenical Ethics and Academic Dean of Globethics.net in Geneva, Switzerland. Dominika Hadrysiewicz is PhD Candidate, Study of Religion at the Department for Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Faculty of Theology, Humboldt-University zu Berlin, Germany. Dr. Riyako Cecilia Hikota is Research Assistant at the Chair of Theology in Transformation Processes of the Present, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany. Dr. Philip Knäble ist Postdoktorand im Göttinger Graduiertenkolleg »Expertenkulturen des 12. bis 18. Jahrhunderts«. Prof. Dr. Kimerer L. LaMothe is (Professional) Dancer, Choreograph, Playwright, Philosopher, and Scholar of Religion. Camille Lepeigneux researchs on Classic and Late Antiquity and joined Research Unit: Orient & Mediteranean at the Sorbonne University Paris, France. Dr. Martin Leutzsch is Professor of Biblical Theology at the Department of Protestant Theology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Paderborn, Germany. Prof. Dr. Ángel Francisco Méndez Montoya is (Professional) Dancer, Choreograph, Licentiate in Dance and Philosophy, Professor of Religious Studies at the Iberoamerican University, Coordinator for the Revista Iberoamericana de Teología (RIBET), Mexico City, Mexico. Raphael Sartorius is Research Assistant at the Chair of Intercultural Theology, Mission Studies and Religious Studies, Augustana University, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria and Visiting Scholar at Humboldt-University Berlin, Program on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development.