THE SOCIAL METAPHOR OF THE HUMAN BODY: Sociology and Dance. A Search for Meaning in Motion

• Authors: Byczkowska-Owczarek, Dominika

Abstracts

EN

In the article I present sociological interest in dance as a social activity rooted in culturewhich combines two manifestations of human existence: the body/physicality and mental/emotional aspects. I also describe the relationship between culture and dance movement,I present the most important fields of interest in the sociology of dance, such asmovement, perception and shaping one’s own physicality, use of the body as a tool forconstructing group position and identity, stereotypes and social roles, the role of dance ineducation, values and norms adopted by the community, the relationship between dance and the rituals of local communities. In the text one may also find description of the relationshipbetween sociology of dance and other areas of knowledge, such as sociology ofbody, sociology of culture, phenomenology, interactionist sociology, anthropology andphilosophy of dance, performance studies and more. In addition to theoretical issues, inthe article I also present research techniques used in social studies dance, such as interview(also video and photo elicited), observation and autoethnography. To illustrate theaforementioned theoretical and methodological issues, I present an example of a sociologicalstudy of dance, which I conducted in the social environment of ballroom dancing.

Keywords

EN

socjologia ciała; socjologia tańca; antropologia ciała; antropologia tańca; ciało; taniec; kultura; techniki badawcze

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Gdański
• Journal: Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 16(1)
• Pages: 23-37

Contributors

author

Byczkowska-Owczarek, Dominika

Identifiers

DOI

10.5604/20842937.1150835