Songs and Gifts at the Frontier

In the search for the social meaning of song, this book connects the performativity of ritual song to important cultural domains such as political economy and history. This book investigates the particular history and social experience by a marginalized society in Mindanao Island, Philippines, through an analysis of the speech, song and dance in spirit possession ritual. Using the concepts of exchange and reciprocity, Buenconsejo connects the performativity of ritual song to the formation and maintenance of sociability, personhood and subjectivity. Also inlcludes maps.