bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unmanned Weapons
Authors: Heyns Christof , Borden Tess
Published: December 2017

This chapter reviews technological advances in weapons systems from a gendered perspective. It describes how unmanned weapons affect women in targeted societies and targeting societies, exploring ways in which traditional gender roles are both exacerbated and relaxed by this weaponry. With respect to masculinity, the chapter discusses the potential for emasculation of traditional male combatants in targeting societies and the dehumanization of men in targeted societies. Drawing on feminist critiques, the chapter closes with a discussion of ethical concerns, including the potential for downplaying collateral damage and overlooking broader societal impacts caused by unmanned weapons. Ultimately, the chapter suggests that although the use of unmanned weapons may theoretically create opportunities for greater gender equality, such benefit is likely outweighed by the risks of depersonalizing the use of force.
Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
Authors: Mazurana Dyan , Krystalli Roxanne , Baaré Anton
Published: December 2017

Processes of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) seek to improve the security and stability of post-conflict societies. This chapter explores a gender-focused approach to DDR that has three primary components: conducting gender analyses of standards of support for women in DDR programs; prioritizing parallel programs for women; and demilitarizing masculinity and femininity. Historical difficulties in establishing DDR programs that respond to the needs of women are explained by four challenges: exclusion of women due to restrictive definitions of “combatants”; programming that does not reflect the specific experiences of women; a reluctance to look beyond traditional DDR programs toward alternates; and a failure to address the militarized masculinities of male combatants. The chapter concludes by suggesting that DDR programs move toward a “portfolio view.” This would allow participants greater flexibility to choose the programming that best meets their needs by providing participants a menu of options.
Who Defines the Red Lines?
Authors: Kouvo Sari , Levine Corey
Published: December 2017

Since the emergence of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, the situation of Afghan women has been a prominent issue in media and policy. This chapter analyzes the complex and contested role of women’s rights in Afghanistan since the US military-led intervention. Beginning with a review of justifications for the intervention—based in part on the situation of Afghan women—the chapter details and critiques the legislative and constitutional changes brought about by the intervention and the subsequent backlash against increased freedoms. As the international community shifted to prioritize security and stability over women’s rights, it illustrates the abandonment of Afghan women in favor of the possibility of negotiations with the Taliban. The chapter calls for greater involvement of women in peace processes and a genuine commitment to women’s rights by both the government and the international community. It closes with recommendations for other countries in transition.
The Silences in the Rules That Regulate Women during Times of Armed Conflict
Authors: Gardam Judith
Published: December 2017

This chapter describes the history of the law of armed conflict and its relevance to women. The law of armed conflict has not been heavily scrutinized by feminists but its provisions offer feminists many challenges. This chapter explores how, despite theoretically seeming to benefit women, these provisions from assumptions around combatancy status to civilian protection depict a gendered vision of women, reinforce destructive gender stereotypes, and fail to address systemic gender discrimination. The chapter concludes by exploring feminist encounters with the law of armed conflict and the extent to which protections for women in situations of armed conflict have improved over time. It also describes challenges that lie ahead and provides suggestions for feminist scholarship to probe further.
Knowing Masculinities in Armed Conflict?
Authors: Eriksson Baaz Maria , Stern Maria
Published: December 2017

Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with members of the Congolese military, this chapter explores conceptions of militarized masculinity, particularly in the context of sexual violence perpetrated by Congolese government forces during the protracted conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The chapter opens with a review of the feminist research regarding the interconnectedness of gender, militarization, and war, comparing these theories with the conceptions of masculinity articulated by Congolese soldiers. While portions of the interviews were consistent with prevailing research framings, the chapter documents various points of dissonance. These include differences in the articulation of what characteristics make one a “good soldier”; the recurring articulations of vulnerability and failure; and a perception of rape as the action of an emasculated man. The chapter concludes with the authors’ reflection on their experience carrying out their research and the ethics of research in a post-colonial context.
Northern Ireland
Authors: McWilliams Monica , Kilmurray Avila
Published: December 2017

Women’s activism played an important role in conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, from the early civil rights activists to the development of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party. This chapter follows the history of activism in Northern Ireland, using the trajectory to illustrate how the exclusion of women from formal institutions resulted in a women’s movement that became an alternative means for creating change. It identifies important characteristics of women’s activism, including a willingness to build broad alliances in civil society and framing tactics that brought gender-specific interests to the peace process and the Good Friday peace agreement. As the chapter examines the successes and challenges of the post-conflict women’s movement in Northern Ireland, it reflects on the power of creativity and innovation in altering institutional dynamics during times of transition.
Gendered Suffering and the Eviction of the Native
Authors: Shalhoub-Kevorkian Nadera
Published: December 2017

The treatment of pregnant women in Palestine offers an important perspective on the interlocking power of gender and race in the context of settler colonialism. However, the gendered violence experienced by pregnant women remains mostly invisible. This chapter shares the voices of pregnant Palestinians to explore how they experience specific forms of gendered violence in a militarized and occupied homeland. It explains the steps taken by Israel to invade and attempt to control this intimate sphere of Palestinian life and the motivations behind targeting pregnant women. The chapter closes with a description of the “birthing resistance” of Palestinian women, recognizing their ability to reproduce as exercises of agency and power that challenge the continuing process of colonization.
The Gendered Nexus between Conflict and Citizenship in Historical Perspective
Authors: Butterfield Jo , Heineman Elizabeth
Published: December 2017

This chapter explores the association of citizenship with warfare. The chapter begins its historical exploration with the revolutionary wars of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It then addresses how different systems of government elaborated the gendered and militarized nexus of citizenship. It concludes by exploring the construction of gendered citizenship in international humanitarian law and human rights law. While feminist movements have made progress in establishing women as subjects—rather than objects—of international law, the feminist focus on eradicating war has been pushed to the margins. Thus, recognizing women as citizens with international rights continues to hinge on the nexus between gender and conflict.
Bound and Unbound
Authors: Noland Carrie
Published: December 2017

The essay follows Jennifer Goggans’s 2014 reconstruction of Crises, arguing that the retrieval of past works (and thus their performance in a new historical context) encourages audiences to discover aspects of Cunningham’s aesthetic that have not received adequate attention. Cunningham observed and integrated the idiosyncratic qualities of his dancers, allowing them to influence his own way of moving in a process similar to contagion. Further, instead of avoiding all dramatic situations, he set up constraints that would generate them. Drama and erotic tension are present in his work not as plot elements but rather as the inevitable outcome of interconnections and confrontations produced throughout the dance at moments determined by the toss of a coin.
Martha@ . . . The 1963 Interview
Authors: Move Richard
Published: December 2017

This chapter examines Richard Move’s performance as the late Martha Graham, focusing on Martha@ . . . The 1963 Interview, based on an audio recording of Graham’s 1963 onstage interview with dance critic Walter Terry at the 92nd Street Y. This production is the 2011 iteration of Move’s Martha@ . . . series of performances that began in 1996. The chapter centers on Move’s reproduction of Graham’s voice as the point of entry into his reenactments, tracing Move’s process of capturing Graham’s voice at the age of sixty-nine, when she could no longer perform her signature ballets and would soon retire from the stage. With her body in decline and quickly approaching what she called her “first death,” Graham relies on her voice to dance for her. Move finds Graham’s voice at this particular moment in her career through a method he has refined over the course of twenty years.
Letters to Lila and Dramaturg’s Notes on Future Memory
Authors: Elswit Kate , Nair Rani
Published: December 2017

In 1975, German choreographer Kurt Jooss created his last dance, Dixit Dominus, for Swedish-based Indian dancer Lilavati Häger. After Rani Nair reconstructed what is often seen as “minor” work, she then created Future Memory (2012/2014) to engage more directly with her inheritance, from caring for the personal things and stories that surrounded the piece to reworking its promise of dancing between European and Indian forms. Working outward from Elswit’s position as dramaturge and historian for this project, and accompanied by Nair’s letters to Häger, this chapter addresses the potential and precariousness of contemporary dance’s experiments with redoing history at the intersection of multiple contested legacies.
Gloriously Inept and Satisfyingly True
Authors: Skantze P.A.
Published: December 2017

Invoking the methodology of the act of spectating as a practice, an idea developed from Skantze’s Itinerant Spectator/Itinerant Spectacle, this chapter examines reenactment from the perspective of the active spectator. The archive and the document common to reenactment present the spectator as practitioner with interpretive tools, and yet often the reception of reenactments becomes stronger by way of the mix of spectator memory with the not quite accurate or faithful in the representation. Wim Vandekeybus’s Booty Looting, a dance performance that not only stages a reenactment, but also confronts the spectator with the material of memory, forms the basis for thinking through the paradox of the truth in approximations and flawed enactments.
Reenacting Kaisika Natakam
Authors: Katrak Ketu H. , Ratnam Anita
Published: December 2017

This chapter explores multiple dimensions of the reenactment of a thirteenth-century ritual dance-theater work, Kaisika Natakam, of South India. A collaborative effort by scholars, musicologists, and performing artist Anita Ratnam, the revival and reconstruction of this tradition has been performed annually since 1995 in Tirukurungudi village in Tamil Nadu, India. We theoretically distinguish reconstruction from reenactment. This ritual reenactment appeals to modern democratic impulses in that the story uniquely challenges the caste system; indeed it demonstrates that Nambudevan, Lord Vishnu’s devotee, though low-born is an honorable individual who keeps his word, even if that may lead to his death. The story reminds audiences of the significance of music and dance in Hindu worship, exemplified in Nambudevan’s devotional singing that plays a key role in transforming a demon into human form. The chapter also discusses gender issues such as male roles played by females in this ritual dance-theater.
Buddhism and the Virtues
Authors: MacKenzie Matthew
Published: December 2017

This chapter presents an overview and discussion of the primary Buddhist virtues within the context of the Buddhist path of moral and spiritual development. Buddhist ethics counsels practitioners to overcome the three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance and to cultivate those states and traits of mind (and the actions they motivate) that conduce to the genuine happiness and spiritual freedom of oneself and others. The chapter discusses the four immeasurable states of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. It then discusses the six perfections of generosity, moral discipline, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the prospects of a Buddhist virtue ethics.
Virtue as a Trait
Authors: Miller Christian
Published: December 2017

One of the most common assumptions about the moral virtues is that they are traits, or more specifically, traits of character. But what are character traits, and what character traits do individuals actually possess today? This chapter takes up each of these questions in turn. First it considers the metaphysics of character traits, distinguishing between three competing views: the summary view, the conditional view, and the dispositional view. Then it turns to the empirical issue of whether most people actually have character traits, and if so, what they tend to look like. Different options include the possession of traditional virtues, traditional vices, local traits, and mixed traits.
Intellectual Virtues and Truth, Understanding, and Wisdom
Authors: Baehr Jason
Published: December 2017

This chapter addresses the proper end or aim of intellectual virtues. After distinguishing between two fundamentally different conceptions of intellectual virtue, the author considers the plausibility, with respect to each conception, of the “binary thesis,” according to which the proper aim of intellectual virtues is true belief and the avoidance of cognitive error. The author goes on to argue that if one understands intellectual virtues (as many virtue epistemologists do) as admirable traits of personal character—for example, as traits like curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual courage, and intellectual humility—then sophia or theoretical wisdom presents itself as a plausible way of understanding their aim.
Toward an Empirically Informed Approach to Medical Virtues
Authors: Oakley Justin
Published: December 2017

Several philosophers have developed accounts of virtue ethics that are more empirically informed than previous versions of this approach; however, such accounts have had only a limited impact on virtue ethical approaches to medical ethics. This chapter demonstrates how empirical research can help in the development of a strong evidence-based moral psychology of medical virtue. It draws out some general desiderata for an adequate moral psychology of medical virtue, and shows how empirical research is crucial for devising well-grounded accounts of medical role virtues, such as medical beneficence and medical courage. It also explains how research into the impact of policy changes on medical practice and doctors’ medical virtues can help with deriving defensible policy applications from medical virtue ethics.
Alternatives to Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics
Authors: Pettigrove Glen
Published: December 2017

Most contemporary variants of virtue ethics have a neo-Aristotelian timbre. However, standing alongside the neo-Aristotelians are a number of others playing similar tunes on different instruments. This chapter highlights the four most important virtue ethical alternatives to the dominant neo-Aristotelian chorus. These are Michael Slote’s agent-based approach, Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarism, Christine Swanton’s target-centered theory, and Robert Merrihew Adams’s neo-Platonic account. What these four approaches showcase is the range of possible theoretical structures available to virtue ethicists. A virtue ethicist might attempt to define other normative qualities like goodness or rightness in terms of virtuous traits. But she need not. Instead, she might develop a theory in which virtue is fundamental but other normative qualities obey a logic that is at least partially independent of virtue. This chapter draws attention to an exciting range of possibilities for virtue ethics that both critics and advocates alike will want to explore.
Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics
Authors: Snow Nancy E.
Published: December 2017

Neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics takes inspiration from Aristotle’s ethical theory. Central to this approach is that virtues, enduring dispositions of character and intellect, are essential, along with external goods, for us to live flourishing lives in accordance with our nature as rational beings. Aristotle’s theory is teleological, for the virtues direct us toward the end or telos of flourishing and enable us to attain it. The theory is naturalistic in the sense that to live a virtuous life is to live a life of natural goodness. This chapter explains these and other ideas by reviewing Rosalind Hursthouse’s view that virtue ethics is a viable alternative to deontology and consequentialism, followed by a discussion of two major themes of Daniel C. Russell’s account of the role of practical reason in virtue ethics. Finally, it turns to ethical naturalism as articulated by Hursthouse, Philippa Foot, and Michael Thompson, with mention of McDowell’s approach.
Plato
Authors: Trivigno Franco V.
Published: December 2017

This chapter foregrounds aspects of Plato’s thinking about virtue that may be useful for contemporary virtue ethicists. First, Plato presents Socrates’ self-knowledge as a kind of ‘moral epistemic humility,’ and this notion may be important for theories that set a high bar for moral knowledge. Second, Plato provides various models—with wisdom at the forefront—for configuring the relationship amongst the virtues. Third, Plato’s view that virtue is sufficient for happiness, though external goods contribute to one’s level of happiness, represents an underexplored option in contemporary work. Fourth, very few scholars have drawn from Plato’s rich account of the moral psychology of eros, or love, in the development and maintenance of the proper attitude toward virtue. Finally, Plato’s political thought, in which the state’s central task is tend to the virtue and happiness of its citizens, may provide a rich resource for those interested in moral education and virtue politics.
Christian Theories of Virtue
Authors: Wood W. Jay
Published: December 2017

This chapter surveys important points of development in Christian thinking about the virtues. Christians have not been the only champions of virtue for the last two millennia. The centrality of imitating and following Christ to achieve one’s true telos has, however, put a very distinctive stamp on Christian thinking about what qualities of character count as virtues. Moral and theological virtues such as humility, compassion, hope, and love are largely absent from cultural landscapes Christians have shared with other virtue traditions. Even traits named in common with other virtue traditions take on a distinctive Christian form when situated within the Christian narrative. Despite the differences among Christians about how to think about particular virtues, or even whether the virtue tradition is the best way to think about the moral life, they agree that all stand in need of divine aid if they are to achieve Christlikeness.
Introduction
Authors: Snow Nancy E.
Published: December 2017

The aim of The Oxford Handbook of Virtue is to provide a representative overview of the state of work on virtue in the field of philosophy. After a brief discussion of the aetiology of the term virtue, the Introduction sketches the history of work on virtue in ethics and epistemology. These ideas are examined and expanded upon in the forty-two essays that comprise the Handbook. The Introduction follows the presentation of the Handbook chapters in discussing different conceptualizations of virtue, offering an overview of work on virtue in the history of philosophy and non-Western traditions, and briefly reviewing contributors’ chapters on topics in contemporary virtue ethics, applied virtue ethics, virtue epistemology, and applied virtue epistemology.
Baptism
Authors: Wood Susan K.
Published: December 2017

This chapter surveys commonalities and divergences with regard to the theology and practice of baptism that are reflected in the World Council of Churches convergence document on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, and considers in particular the Anabaptist, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Quaker, and Reformed traditions. Major topics treated include: the role of faith with regard to baptism, interconnections between baptism, faith, and justification; the relationship between baptism and patterns of initiation in various traditions; and elements of the ancient catechumenate in contemporary rites. The chapter argues that in the expansive theology of baptism in the catechumenal tradition baptism is understood to be transformative and regenerative, eucharistic in orientation and meaning, eschatological in orientation, and ecclesial in context. The chapter finally summarizes the achievements of ecumenical dialogue and identifies remaining issues.
Ijma‘
Authors: Syed Mairaj
Published: December 2017

This article surveys the three approaches—source-critical, phenomenological, and hermeneutical-theological—that prevail in the historiography of consensus in early, classical, and modern Islamic legal thought. The source-critical approach dominates the historiography of the early period. Scholars using this approach question the narrative found in classical Islamic legal theory: that specific verses of the Qur’an or Hadith of Muhammad establish consensus as a source of law. They believe instead that consensus emerged gradually, in response to the social needs of the Muslim community. Scholars using the phenomenological approach seek to define the doctrine of consensus in classical Islamic legal theory whilst scholars using the hermeneutical-theological approach view consensus as a powerful argument in issues of Islamic thought today. These approaches are not mutually exclusive and scholars often combine them. The article ends with identification of the areas for growth in future studies of consensus.
Open and Closed
Authors: Gordon Colette
Published: December 2017

The force of ‘Shakespeare’ as a source of cultural authority in South Africa has been extensively discussed. This chapter looks at a phenomenon that is less often acknowledged: the persistence of directorial power in post-apartheid Shakespearean performance. Renewed ties with British theatre after apartheid brought actors and directors trained in a more actor-centred approach into dialogue with local theatre practitioners, but this did little to shift South African Shakespeare away from dependence on spectacle and on directors as inheritors of institutional power. Focusing on South African performances in 2011 and 2012 across the different institutional spaces in which Shakespeare is made to work (theatres, schools, and prisons), in productions that promise to create democratic, liberating, ‘open’ Shakespeare, one finds both defiance and a striking restatement of the status quo. While connections with British theatre give authority and legitimacy to post-apartheid performances, the potential for ‘open Shakespeare’ has been squelched.
Shakespeare’s Rebirth
Authors: Guneratne Anthony R.
Published: December 2017

Shakespeare adaptations are uniquely suited to chart the historical reciprocity between performance traditions and emerging mediascapes. Reframing a classical essay of Walter Benjamin’s within the context of contemporary media theory, this chapter draws together archival research, interviews, and observations of performances in related aesthetic forms that have engaged with Shakespeare’s texts, including those by such key figures as Giuseppe Verdi, George Balanchine, and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. By focusing on connections between the inventors of audiovisual technologies (from early audio recordings to ‘live’ HD broadcasts) and key performances by actors, singers, and dancers, and by examining how contemporary performers respond to today’s digital technologies in the light of the traditions of performance established by their predecessors, it attempts to resituate the study of adaptations of Shakespeare within broader historical and cultural contexts.
Global Shakespeare Criticism Beyond the Nation State
Authors: Huang Alexa
Published: December 2017

This chapter discusses three methodological concerns about studying global Shakespeare—those touring and intercultural performances often thought to play a geopolitical role in cultural diplomacy. First, the postnational space for global arts is shaped by mutual influence and fluid cultural locations rather than by traditional notions of the nation state. It is therefore no longer useful to consider a production within one national context. Second, global Shakespeare as a field of study reflects the anxiety about cultural particularity and universality. Identifying the dynamics behind the production and reception of global Shakespeare will help us confront archival silences in the record of cultural globalization; what has been redacted, eliminated, or suppressed. Third, global citations of Shakespeare—whether in performances or by politicians—demonstrate a spectral quality. The spectre of global Shakespeare is a product of the politically articulated promise and perils of cultural difference.
Documenting the Demotic
Authors: Mazer Cary M.
Published: December 2017

Actor blogs—online eyewitness accounts of the rehearsal process—provide a potentially rich resource for documenting contemporary mainstream anglophone Shakespeare performances, revealing the assumptions about character, action, and meaning shared by artists and audiences, and confirming the standard practices by which a production is created. It may be significant, then, that very few blogs actually fulfil this promise. Many theatre companies use actor blogs instead to generate the impression that the audience is being allowed a privileged access to the rehearsal process without genuinely sharing the realities of that process, hoping thereby to enfranchise the audience as ‘stakeholders’ and to shape how their finished productions will be received. The chapter ends by focusing on one blog that accurately shares an actor’s rehearsal process in real time (he’s playing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew) and, in so doing, reveals the limitations of contemporary American emotional-realism-based approaches to acting and character.
Archives and Anecdotes
Authors: Menzer Paul
Published: December 2017

‘Archives and Anecdotes’ pursues a historical syntax that can parse both words, since the two have traditionally been understood to exercise independently if not to outright antagonize one another. This chapter argues, however, that theatre anecdotes have at least as much to say about performance as they do about theatre history and myths; therefore it moves away from an assessment of the role anecdotes play in traditional historiography and towards an exploration of how they function in performance studies. Working through several examples, ‘Archives and Anecdotes’ ultimately argues that theatre anecdotes prove prophetic and thus are beholden less to the history of Shakespeare in performance than to its future.
‘It’s All a Bit of a Risk’
Authors: Purcell Stephen
Published: December 2017

This essay considers three movements in twenty-first-century Shakespearean performance in light of Philip Auslander’s influential study Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture (1999): (1) the live broadcasting of theatre productions; (2) the increasingly popular genre of immersive theatre as spectator sport; and (3) the body of practice emerging from, and centring on, the reconstructed Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. It considers the ways in which each of these movements constructs ‘liveness’, paying particular attention to the implications of these constructions for Shakespearean performance. The first movement is examined through the lens of the National Theatre Live broadcast of Nicholas Hytner’s Othello, whose ‘liveness’ involves an interplay of filmic and theatrical registers; the second, through a discussion of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More; and the third, through the modern practice of finding ‘liveness’ in game-like theatre techniques and in the responsiveness of the actor at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Performance in Digital Editions of Shakespeare
Authors: Werner Sarah
Published: December 2017

A growing number of apps and iBooks seek to take advantage of digital technologies to incorporate photos, videos, and audio recordings into editions of Shakespeare’s plays, touting these additions as a boon for understanding Shakespeare. But any promise of transforming how editions can draw on and connect to performances of the plays has not yet been met. Instead, such promises run smack into the limitations of technology, money, rights, and imagination—all hampered by a failure to understand what purpose linking to performances might serve and undermining the pedagogical aims of teaching students to interpret Shakespeare on their own.
Technology and the Ethics of Spectatorship
Authors: Aebischer Pascale
Published: December 2017

This chapter revisits debates regarding the use of technology to enhance or remediate performances in the light of Emmanuel Levinas’s understanding of the ethical encounter as a face-to-face encounter between a subject and her/his other. Building on these debates and Robert Weimann’s distinction between locus and platea, it suggests that performance theory’s emphasis on the physical co-presence of spectator and performer undervalues the experience of the spectator. Using three productions that use digital media as examples, the chapter demonstrates how online live streaming (in Cheek by Jowl’s Measure for Measure), digital hologram projection (in the McGuires’ Ophelia’s Ghost), and the use of an online stage (in the RSC’s collaboration with Google+ on #dream40) each harness the affordances of digital media to create conceptual spaces in which spectators can experience ethical encounters. Digital media thus open up distinct ways of experiencing dilemmas explored by Shakespeare’s plays.
Shakespeare’s Property Ladder
Authors: Solga Kim
Published: December 2017

Shakespeare ‘owners’ in the British cultural marketplace have long been the powerful male actors, artistic directors, and theatre reviewers who function as arbiters of ‘good’ acting, directing, and interpretation of Shakespeare. This chapter excavates the conservative political framework that has historically limited the experiences of women directing Shakespeare in the UK. How does an unspoken but deeply entrenched and gendered sense of who knows Shakespeare well enough to advocate on ‘His’ behalf determine what opportunities do, or do not, come women’s way? What does that powerful sense of knowledge and ownership reveal about the gendered expectations that still accrue to the work of women directors of Shakespeare? Is the landscape shifting, and if so how? What strategies might feminist directors such as Katie Mitchell use to make way for women’s engagement with Shakespeare on feminism’s own terms, and to build a critical consensus around the legitimacy of their work?
Pahlavi
Authors: Cereti Carlo G.
Published: December 2017

This chapter offers an overview of Pahlavi literature. It surveys a wide variety of genres and texts, which were composed in the form that has reached us mainly in the ninth and tenth century, though some of the works and many of the themes date back to the Sasanian period and even earlier. Much of this literature was composed by Zoroastrians in Iran, and the chapter looks at the Zoroastrian contexts of literary production. Important texts such as the Dēnkard and the Bundahišn are discussed at length. The chapter also examines non-religious literature and other literary traditions with which Pahlavi authors came into contact. No doubt a large part of Sasanian non-religious literature was translated into Arabic and later also into Persian, contributing to the blossoming of Islamic culture.
Common Embrace
Authors: George Doran
Published: December 2017

In this chapter the author contests how ‘wellbeing’ has been read in Rosemary Lee’s choral dances. Choreographing for large intergeneration and mixed ability casts, Lee cultivates experiences of social cohesion for her dancers, and transcends prevailing distinctions between professional contemporary and community dance. Without a critical language for the work, commentators tend to theorize the sense of community as revealing an intrinsic truth of humanity. The author proposes that such beliefs arise because the dancing seems to manifest natural forces in collective human movement. Lee achieves this effect by constructing an individual performer identity to which belonging to a tolerant group is essential. Using metaphors of nature in somatic training, Lee emphasizes each dancer’s experience to cultivate communal wellbeing that manifests in performance of choral flow. The author thus reveals that the communal sense of wellbeing becomes choreographed as decisive cultural labour with a history that can be traced in Lee’s historical influences.
(Im)possible Performatives
Authors: Allegranti Beatrice
Published: December 2017

Little is said about the process of loss and grieving as both corporeal and as a performative process. This chapter presents loss in a way that leads beyond the confines of discursive labels, diagnosis, and narrow views of human suffering, to an understanding of loss and grief as a performative, mutually entangled process between self, other, and the person ‘lost’. Building on previous research establishing links between psychotherapeutic and performance processes dealing with loss, this chapter explores the complexity of loss and grief as a corporeal process (biological, kinaesthetic, non-human) and discursive (psychological, sociopolitical) construction of bodies in motion. Drawing from personal experience of loss and dance-based research projects, the chapter suggests a possible corporeal reclaiming after loss: the dead can be in us, the living, and this (im)possible performative can contribute to feelings of wellbeing and transformation by providing a creative ongoing relationship with the person who has died.
Wellbeing and the Ageing Dancer
Authors: Bolwell Jan
Published: December 2017

The fusion of dance aesthetics with exercise and safe practice can result in challenging and fulfilling dance experiences for the ageing dancer. This chapter charts the author’s own experience in New Zealand, teaching two different cohorts of older women, in a contemporary dance performance-based dance collective, and in an aerobic dance exercise programme. The impact on society of an ageing population is discussed. The author reflects on how ageism is present in community and professional dance, and how dancers in both contexts deal with the challenges, promoting an image of fitness and health, as exemplified by local ethnic groups. The author finishes with a profile of Crows Feet Dance Collective, the company of mature women whom she has directed and choreographed since 1999, highlighting the qualities which these dancers display, opportunities for self-discovery, and a new level of creativity in a body that encapsulates a ‘lived richness.’
Dance/Movement and Embodied Knowing with Adolescents
Authors: Beardall Nancy
Published: December 2017

This chapter explores the role of dance, dance/movement therapy’s core principles, and creative/expressive arts in the psychoeducational development of students in grades six–twelve. Three secondary-school programmes are highlighted: Creative Dance, Creating a Peaceable School, and Mentors in Violence Prevention. These programmes address major adolescent challenges, such as self-esteem, relationship building, empowerment, and bullying prevention, in addition to the promotion of respect for differences and the creation of a supportive community. Examples from these programmes are explored to illustrate how dance, dance/movement therapy principles, and the creative/expressive arts can be used to support secondary-school students’ physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and relational growth. As students experience an embodied form of learning and knowing, the process leads to a more mindful and integrated understanding of themselves and others. The theoretical models that serve as the foundation for this work are discussed along with the results of the school-based evaluations conducted within each programme.
The Wellbeing of Students in Dance Movement Therapy Masters Programmes
Authors: Wengrower Hilda
Published: December 2017

This inquiry looks at the impact that studies in dance movement therapy (DMT) at university level have on the wellbeing of students, according to their teachers’ perception. The answers received from an international survey suggest that there might be differences between how DMT trainers evaluate the impact on these students’ wellbeing and the appreciation of their peers who teach students in other helping professions (social work, psychology, medicine, and counselling). These differences might be attributed to the following factors. First, the positive effect of dance itself on wellbeing and on stress reduction may play a unique and buffering role on the challenges that students face in their specific training; and second, students as well as trainers might have some distinctive personality characteristics which make them prone to experiential/embodied teaching/learning.
Provoking Change
Authors: Brown Ann Kipling
Published: December 2017

This chapter discusses the role of arts/dance education in the lives of both children and pre-service teachers in Canada today. Through reports at the national and international level and specific initiatives in the province of Saskatchewan, the importance and implementation of arts/dance education for all is identified. A curriculum is encouraged that positions students to become active creators of knowledge, to acquire critical, open, and exploratory perspectives, to work independently, to use a variety of research tools, and to express themselves using a range of symbol systems and therefore dance. There is evidence that such creative processes empower communities and improve the health and wellbeing of individuals. An example from a teaching context is provided to consider the role of dance both as personal expression and wellbeing that intertwines the history and personal voice of the individual and as a means to examine pedagogical practice.
Together We Move
Authors: Pratt Cynthia
Published: December 2017

This chapter discusses the process of creating a large-scale dance event inspired by the early-twentieth-century movement choirs of Rudolph Laban. A brief biography of Laban outlines the early influences leading to his conviction that community dance is a critical component in creating group empathy and goodwill. These influences include his exposure, as a young man, to whirling dervishes, and his experience with folk dancing within rural communities. The development of his ideas on dance and his concept of Festwille—the urge for a group of people to participate in meaningful celebratory activity—are also examined. The article describes the evolution of the movement choir from workshops which Laban held for amateur dancersm, and the cultural circumstances in post-industrialized Germany that contributed to this evolution. Finally, the creative process in setting a Laban-inspired movement choir of approximately 500 participants is described.
Methods of Promoting Gender Development in Young Children Through Developmental Dance Rhythms
Authors: Loman Susan
Published: December 2017

Lines of development can be traced back to the very young child. A sequence of motor development was outlined by Judith Kestenberg, the originator of the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP), which was based on clinical observations of children from birth through six years old. Two stages—the ‘inner-genital phase’ in the 3–4-year-olds, and the ‘outer-genital phase’ common amongst 4–6-year-olds—offer valuable insights about gender and sexual development in both boys and girls. A dance/movement therapist who understands the predictable phases associated with children’s movement, as well as gender development, will be able to promote wellbeing when working with both typically and atypically developing children. The use of developmentally supported rhythms are introduced as a vehicle through which dance/movement therapists and caregivers can attune with young children through dance, thus enhancing wellness.
Free To Dance
Authors: Kenrick Anna , Lappin Carolyn , Oliver Sue
Published: December 2017

The Free To Dance project run by YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) aimed to encourage teenage girls who had opted out of physical education and sports in school and community, to become more physically active and to realize their potential as individuals through positive dance experiences. It was run in three locations in Scotland, and was taught by dance artists from YDance. Participants fell into two categories: (i) those who did less than five hours physical activity, and (ii) ‘hard-to-reach’ teenagers who had previously faced barriers preventing them from joining in physical activities. Free to Dance involved three main types of programme delivery: a schools programme, a community programme, and a dance leadership training programme. The participants learned street and contemporary dance techniques, sometimes leading to performances. The study considers the participants’ view of the impact that the project had on their life, in terms of self-image, confidence, physical fitness, and ambitions.
Haunted by Meaning
Authors: Shapiro Sherry B.
Published: December 2017

This chapter explores the concept of aesthetic activism as a vehicle for wellbeing that emphasizes the importance of social justice and compassionate community. Drawing on critical and feminist pedagogies, the author links pedagogy and aesthetic activism to social integration and cohesion and of shared consciousness. The choreographic process described centres on the body as a site for self and social awareness and a critical understanding of the context of women’s lives. The aesthetic here is understood as that domain in which dominant meanings are disclosed and possibilities for social change can be imagined and realized. The author describes a community dance process in Cape Town, South Africa, in which notions of embodied knowledge and critical understanding unite to create a dance performance. This pedagogy suggests that meaning and purpose within a changing global context can be grounded in an ethic of social justice, human rights, and inclusive community.
Building Relations
Authors: Singer Allison J.
Published: December 2017

This chapter considers the integration of dance ethnography and dance movement psychotherapy as a methodology to explore the relationship between dance and wellbeing within psychosocial work with war-affected refugee and internally displaced (IDP) children and their families. It is based upon ethnographic research undertaken in Serbia between September 2001 and September 2002, beginning a few months after the end of the war in former Yugoslavia (1991–2001). The discussion is based on the premise that there is a relationship between creativity, culture, and human development that can be harnessed in psychosocial work with these children and families, to facilitate integration and resettlement. Central to this is the building of new social and cultural relationships and opportunities for people to discover and develop innate potentials that can be used as resources in the context of forced displacement. These ideas are the foundations for the definition of wellbeing used in the chapter.
Reconstructing the World of Survivors of Torture for Political Reasons through Dance/Movement Therapy
Authors: Reca Maralia
Published: December 2017

This chapter discusses the adequacy of reconstructing the world of survivors of torture for political reasons through dance/movement therapy. It describes two case studies of people surviving torture within the sociopolitical context of Argentina between 1976 and 1983. It is argued that torture impacts on the functional/social organization of torture survivors, affecting their nervous system, breaking its boundaries, and fragmenting and paralyzing their relationship with the environment. Dance/movement therapy is discussed with regard to its potential for improving the lives of torture survivors, as it focuses on their psychological, emotional, cognitive, and social states. It is possible that attuning to the rhythmical body organization at the very site where torment and immobilization were inflicted restores the basic movement responsible for generating a sequential flow of experiences and actions. The clinical material comes from work in a private practice, and it concentrates on past political and social violence in the therapist´s country.
Dance as Art in Hospitals
Authors: Amans Diane
Published: December 2017

Here the author describes her work and that of other dance artists working in hospitals, two of whom were interviewed specifically for this chapter. She outlines the methods used and the range of skills and experience that dance artists bring to their practice. She also presents some of the issues and challenges inherent in this work, and discusses the values that underpin community dance practice. Although she describes hospital dance art as a practice that is different from dance movement psychotherapy, she argues that creative engagement that focuses on people’s experiences can contribute to wellbeing.
Dance Movement Therapy
Authors: Loughlin Elizabeth
Published: December 2017

Dance movement therapy is a pertinent therapeutic modality to regain the liveness of the intercommunication between mother and infant, and to foster the experience of wellbeing when their relationship has been muted by the mother’s postnatal depression, anxiety, or postpartum psychosis. The chapter cites models of dance movement therapy with mother–infant and documents previous studies. It describes the aesthetic processes and tools of dance that lead to enlivened physical narratives and shared joy that occur in the outpatient hospital group dance movement programme, with reference to published research and evaluation of the programme. Emerging patterns of relating are observed with individual mother–infant dyads in the dance movement individual programme in the acute psychiatric ward. The aesthetic experiences in both settings contribute to increasing cycles of improved responsiveness of mother and infant as seen in the expressive behaviours of their interaction.