Dancing With Iris

Dancing with Iris engages with Iris Marion Young's prolific writings in political theory and in phenomenology. Contributors discuss her work from a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, political science, human rights law, cultural geography and dance studies.

The history of phenomenology, and its absence, in American philosophy. Phenomenology and so-called “continental philosophy” receive scant attention in most American philosophy departments, despite their foundational influence on intellectual movements such as existentialism, post-structuralism, and deconstruction. In Inventing Philosophy’s Other, Jonathan Strassfeld explores this absence, revealing how everyday institutional practices played a determinative role in the development of twentieth-century academic discourse. Conventional wisdom holds that phenomenology’s absence from the philosophical mainstream in the United States reflects its obscurity or even irrelevance to America’s philosophical traditions. Strassfeld refutes this story as he traces phenomenology’s reception in America, delivering the first systematic historical study of the movement in the United States. He examines the lives and works of Marjorie Grene, Alfred Schütz, Hubert Dreyfus, and Iris Marion Young, among others, while also providing a fresh introduction to phenomenological philosophy.

Shows how dance, the highest expression of spirituality in cultures and traditions all over the world, is being integrated into the lives of women today • The first book to explore women's spiritual expression--women's ways--through a study of dance • Investigates how dance came to be excluded from worship, and reveals how dance is once again being brought into spiritual practices • Includes resources for further instruction in sacred dance Today we primarily think of dance as a form of entertainment or as a way to exercise or socialize. There was a time, however, when dance was considered the way to commune with the divine, a part of life's journey, celebrating the seasons and rhythms of the year and the rhythms of our lives. Dance is a language that reunites the body, mind, and soul. While the role of women's sacred dance was most valued in goddess-worshipping cultures where women served as priestesses and healers, dance was once an integral part of religious ritual and ceremonial expression in cultures all over the world, including Judaism and Christianity. In this book the author investigates how dance came to be excluded from worship and reveals how dance is once again being integrated into spiritual practices. Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance is the first book to explore women's spiritual expression--women's ways--through a study of dance. It describes sacred circles, birth rituals, ecstatic dances, and dances of loss and grief (in groups and individually) that allow women to integrate the movements of faith, healing, and power into their daily life.

Beauty is Experience is a collaboration between dancer/writer Emmaly Wiederholt and photographer Gregory Bartning. For more than two years, they collected interviews and photographs of dancers over age 50 along the West Coast. Spanning from Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area to Portland and Seattle, the culmination includes over 50 interviews with dancers ranging in age from 50 to 95, and ranging in practice from ballet and Argentine tango to African and contact improvisation.

The essays in this dynamic compilation are a testament to dance as a healing art. Widely interdisciplinary in nature and written by women dancers from around the world, they illustrate a rich array of dance practices, cultures, and disciplines and show how this expressive therapy can be both empowering and exhilarating. The women’s narratives all share a deep appreciation for the connection between mental, spiritual, and physical dimensions, offering dance as a transformative power of renewing and rebuilding that bond. Both personal and professional, the stories weave a vivid tapestry of lived experiences and insights, balance, and a community healed by dance.

The essays in this insightful film-analysis text show cover twenty-one of the best European films made between the coming of World War II and the end of the twentieth century, showing what makes each of them outstanding. These essays are clear and readable—that is, sophisticated and meaty yet not overly technical or jargon-heavy. They will make perfect introductions to their respective films as well as important contributions to the field of film studies in general. Written with university students in mind, these essays cover some of the central films treated—and central issues raised—in today’s cinema courses and provide students with practical models to help them improve their own writing and analytical skills. A list of questions for discussion is included, to trigger further thinking among film buffs and to help educators prepare for class. The book is aimed at students, teachers, and cinephiles with an interest in European cinema in particular and cinema studies in general, as well as at those educated readers with an interest in the practice of film analysis and criticism. The only competition comes from Stanley Kauffmann’s relatively brief Ten Great Films (136 pp., 2012). The current work offers twenty-one illustrated essays (Kauffmann’s book contains no images) and focuses on Europe. (The countries represented are France, Italy, England, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, Scotland, Denmark, Russia, Spain, Germany, Scotland, and Finland.) Twenty-One Landmark European Films, 1939-1999 overlaps with Kauffmann’s book only in the case of L’avventura, though the two approach this film from vastly different angles. Moreover, the book provides a complete critical apparatus—notes, bibliographies, credits, and filmographies, whereas Kauffmann’s has none. This book could be one of the primary texts for courses in film analysis, to accompany a work like Timothy Corrigan’s A Short Guide to Writing about Film (8th edition, 2011). It would also be a suitable supplementary or secondary text in such courses as 'Introduction to Film' or 'Film Appreciation'; 'Western European Cinema'; 'History of Film' or 'Global Cinema'; and 'Film Directors' or 'Film Style and Imagination.'

In European Directors and Their Films: Essays on Cinema, Bert Cardullo offers readable analyses of some of the most important film artists and individual films of the last several decades. Beyond simple biographical capsules and plot summaries, these readings demonstrate with elegance and clarity what cinema means as well as shows, explaining how international moviemakers use the resources of the medium to pursue complex, significant human goals.