Dancing in the Streets
A History of Collective Joy
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Publisher: Granta
Year First Published: {12931 Dancing in the Streets DANCING IN THE STREETS A History of Collective Joy Ehrenreich, Barbara Granta An account of the toll that depression has taken on European and North American health since the 18th century. 2006 2007 321pp BC12931-DancingStreets.jpg B Book 978-0-8050-5724-9 GT3940.E47 2007 394.26-dc22 Dancing in the Streets explores a human impulse that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing. Drawing on a wealth of history and anthropology, Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. From the earliest orgiastic near Eastern rites to the medieval practice of Christianity as a "danced religion" and the transgressive freedoms of carnival, she demonstrates that mass festivities have long been central to the Western tradition. In recent centuries, this tradition has been repressed, cruelly and often bloodily. But as Ehrenreich argues, the celebratory impluse is too deeply ingrained in human nature ever to be completely extinguished.
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<br>Table of Contents
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<br>Introduction: Invitation to the Dance
<br>1. The Archaic Roots of Ecstasy
<br>2. Civilization and Backlash
<br>3. Jesus and Dionysus
<br>4. From the Churches to the Streets: The Creation of Carnival
<br>5. Killing Carnival: Reformation and Repression
<br>6. A Note on Puritanism and Military Reform
<br>7. An Epidemic of Melancholy
<br>8. Guns Against Drums: Imperialism Encounters Ecstasy
<br>9. Fascist Spectacles
<br>10. The Rock Rebellion
<br>11. Carnivalizing Sports
<br>Conclusion: The Possibility of Revival
<br>Notes
<br>Bibliography
<br>Acknowledgments
<br>Index CX7112 1 true true false CX7112.htm [0xc0010c5b00 0xc0023338c0 0xc0002caf90 0xc0005ac1e0 0xc0005ac450 0xc00068d320 0xc00068daa0 0xc00068dc20 0xc000260f00 0xc000695e60] Cx}
Year Published: 2007
Pages: 321pp ISBN: 978-0-8050-5724-9
Library of Congress Number: GT3940.E47 2007 Dewey: 394.26-dc22
Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX7112
An account of the toll that depression has taken on European and North American health since the 18th century.
Abstract:
Dancing in the Streets explores a human impulse that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing. Drawing on a wealth of history and anthropology, Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. From the earliest orgiastic near Eastern rites to the medieval practice of Christianity as a "danced religion" and the transgressive freedoms of carnival, she demonstrates that mass festivities have long been central to the Western tradition. In recent centuries, this tradition has been repressed, cruelly and often bloodily. But as Ehrenreich argues, the celebratory impluse is too deeply ingrained in human nature ever to be completely extinguished.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Invitation to the Dance
1. The Archaic Roots of Ecstasy
2. Civilization and Backlash
3. Jesus and Dionysus
4. From the Churches to the Streets: The Creation of Carnival
5. Killing Carnival: Reformation and Repression
6. A Note on Puritanism and Military Reform
7. An Epidemic of Melancholy
8. Guns Against Drums: Imperialism Encounters Ecstasy
9. Fascist Spectacles
10. The Rock Rebellion
11. Carnivalizing Sports
Conclusion: The Possibility of Revival
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Subject Headings
