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 danceas a form of oral, narrative storytellinghas 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.

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

Autorentext

Shay Welch is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Spelman College, USA.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Native American Epistemology.- Chapter 3: Native American Epistemology and Embodied Cognitive Theory.- Chapter 4: Native American Epistemology and Dancing.- Chapter 5: Native American Dancing: The Truthing in Performative Knowing.