Article published in:
Body Memory, Metaphor and MovementEdited by Sabine C. Koch, Thomas Fuchs, Michela Summa and Cornelia Müller
[Advances in Consciousness Research 84] 2012
► pp. 227–242
Chapter 14. Moved by God
Performance and memory in the Western Himalayas
William Sax | University of Heidelberg
Karin Polit | University of Heidelberg
We review the history of the anthropological study of “body memory” and argue that it was developed in a fruitful way only with the advent of practice theory and performance studies, which focused on embodied meanings in addition to purely linguistic ones. We provide two case studies of embodied memory. In the first, collective memories of oppression and exploitation are activated by the recitation of particular stories, sometimes resulting in mass possession. In the second, practices associated with the periodic processions of a Western Himalayan deity are shown to be based on local forms of embodied memory.
Keywords: anthropology, collective memory, India, performance, ritual
Published online: 25 January 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.84.17sax
https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.84.17sax
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Koch, Sabine C., Christine Caldwell & Thomas Fuchs
Winfield, Taylor Paige
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