Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1: Setting the scene; 2: Introducing the Temiars; 3: Boundaries and transformations; 4: Temiar body: Control and invasion; 5: Temiar space: Order and disorder; 6: Dreams, souls and trance; 7: Women and blood; 8: Temiar healers: Shaman and midwives; 9: Healing performances: Dance-dramas of prevention and cure; 10: The epic metaphor: The paradox of healing; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Sue Jennings and her three children spent two years on a fieldwork expedition to the Senoi Temiar people of Malaysia: Theatre, Ritual and Transformation is a fascinating account of that experience. She describes how the Temiar regularly perform seances which are enacted through dreams, dance, music and drama, and explains that they see the seance as playing a valuable preventative role in people's lives, as well as being a medium of healing and cure. Her account brings together the insights of drama, therapy and theatre with those of social anthropology to provide an invaluable theoretical framework for understanding theatre and ritual and their links with healing
