Sensing Culture

Awarded the 2008 Alan Merriam Prize as the most distinguished English-language monograph in the field of ethnomusicology, Hahn's research was funded in part by the Asian Cultural Council, a Tufts Faculty Research Award, and the American Association for University Women.* In her introduction to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Dance chronicle 2010, Vol.33 (2), p.331-337
Main Author: Robertson, Marta
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Awards & honors
Cultural anthropology
Dance
Field study
Learning
Students
Teaching
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Summary:Awarded the 2008 Alan Merriam Prize as the most distinguished English-language monograph in the field of ethnomusicology, Hahn's research was funded in part by the Asian Cultural Council, a Tufts Faculty Research Award, and the American Association for University Women.* In her introduction to Sensational Knowledge, Hahn situates her work among David Howe's anthropology of the senses, the transformative fieldwork of Michelle Kisliuk and the ethnomusicology of Kay Kaufman Shelemay,2 and the ethnographic, feminist, and embodied dance scholarship of Barbara Browning, Cynthia Jean Cohen Bull, Marta Savigliano, and Deidre Sklar.3 Sensational Knowledge extends Hahn's previous scholarship on nihon buyo,4 while also furthering Barbara Sellers-Young's study of the adaptations of the iemoto (headmaster) system in the American Northwest, and Sondra Horton Fraleigh's analysis of butoh with reference to calligraphy and poetry.5 What is so compelling about Sensational Knowledge is how Hahn's diverse perspectives as an ethnomusicologist and performer intersect with her ongoing studies of transmission as culturally constructed teaching and learning embodied through the senses. Hahn expands her cross-cultural consideration of "artistic sensibilities" and "dramatic . . . performance contexts" through her study of Monster Truck rallies and her own "interactive electronic performance" as the "sonic character" Pikapika-all at what seems to be maximal distance from nihon buyo.* Having no quibbles major or minor with Sensational Knowledge and in light of the fact that previous reviewers have given chapter summaries,6 I will confine myself to parsing three concepts central to Hahn's text and to discussing their implications for dance scholars.
ISSN:0147-2526
1532-4257
DOI:10.1080/01472526.2010.485941