Overview
- Contributes to a growing area: Native American Philosophy
- Provides an in-depth analysis of epistemology offered from within Native Studies and American Indian Studies
- Intersects with Native Studies, Cognitive Science, Dance Theory, and Performance Philosophy
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book investigates the phenomenological ways that dance choreographing and dance performance exemplify both Truth and meaning-making within Native American epistemology, from an analytic philosophical perspective. Given that within Native American communities dance is regarded both as an integral cultural conduit and “a doorway to a powerful wisdom,” Shay Welch argues that dance and dancing can both create and communicate knowledge. She explains that dance—as a form of oral, narrative storytelling—has the power to communicate knowledge of beliefs and histories, and that dance is a form of embodied narrative storytelling. Welch provides analytic clarity on how this happens, what conditions are required for it to succeed, and how dance can satisfy the relational and ethical facets of Native epistemology.
Reviews
“With rich description, methodological sophistication, and analytical acuity, The Phenomenology of a Performative Knowledge System brings dance to life philosophically as a way of knowing. In it, Welch explores the connections between Native American epistemology, embodied cognition, and social meaning to expand the resources for thinking both about what it is to know, and also how engagement with marginalized traditions can enrich our understanding of our own lives. This is a book that anyone seeking to explore outside of the narrow paradigms of mainstream epistemology should read.” (Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA )
“In her distinctively iconoclastic and creative voice, Shay Welch makes a crucial contribution to social epistemology, embodiment studies, Native American philosophy, and performance studies with her new book. For the last two decades, philosophers have proclaimed the importance of embodiment to knowledge and thought, but few works have taken this importance as seriously or literally as Welch does. This bold work is a sparkling example of the philosophical value of broadening our vision to include the contributions of Native American and Indigenous thinkers and performers. Understanding dance performance as epistemic practice gives us an eye-opening new window into both.” (Rebecca Kukla, Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University, USA)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Shay Welch is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Spelman College, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Phenomenology of a Performative Knowledge System
Book Subtitle: Dancing with Native American Epistemology
Authors: Shay Welch
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04936-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-04935-5Published: 10 May 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-04936-2Published: 30 April 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 215
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Epistemology, Analytic Philosophy, Dance