Last Updated on January 5, 2023
Dance/Heritage Questions
The literature review chapter has traced some issues to be considered regarding dance/heritage and has given the foundations for this research conceptual framework but also raised questions, which were listed at the end of Chapter 2.
Moreover, while dance is an embodied activity and, indeed, recent studies on dance focus on the union between body and mind (Novack, 1988; Sklar, 1994, 2001; Horton Fraleigh, 1995, 2004; Cohen Bull, 2003; Thomas, 2003; Sheets-Johnstone, 2015), the body is missing from the heritage discourse.
Sociological and Philosophical Theories
I will attempt to unpack these issues through sociological and philosophical theories.
In particular, I will engage with Giddens’ Structuration Theory, Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and Bourdieu’s theory of practice.
Although eclectic, their inclusion is not without principle; each of the concepts and theories drawn upon represents attempts at getting closer to the phenomenon of holistic dance/heritage, as a connection of its sociocultural context and lived/embodied experiences.
All these theories challenge binary oppositions, attempting to integrate them (mind-body for phenomenology; structure-agency for Structuration Theory; subjectivism-objectivism in social sciences, for Bourdieu’s theory of practice).
The Conceptual Framework Schedule
I will start with a critique of the tangible/intangible divide in dance/heritage and I will then focus on the missing body in heritage.
Next, I will take a philosophically inspired sociological approach, by engaging with the post-dualist theories of Merleau-Ponty, Bourdieu and Giddens, to arrive at a position that collapses tangible/intangible dualisms in dance/heritage.
Finally, I will propose a model of dance as living heritage (as per (Lo Iacono and Brown, 2016)), which will guide my exploration of raqs sharqi as a form of heritage.
I will then list my research questions as they have emerged from the literature review, based on my conceptual framework.
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Hi – I’m Dr Valeria Lo Iacono and I am a dance researcher with a PhD in dance as a form of living heritage. I also teach belly dance and love to travel to discover new dances around the world. I have worked also as an academic and in the UK and in Korea. Thank you for visiting my site.
