Return to search

Displacing power from the dance floor : a postcolonial gendered reading of Mark 6:14-29

The study rereads the narrative of Mark 6:14-29 from Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory of mimicry and ambivalence. Unlike other interpretations that focus on the death of John the Baptist by Herod, the focal point of this study is the daughter who danced during Herod’s banquet. By taking account of the female body that is culturally represented as the inferior gender, and the use of status to determine power, the text is interpreted through the lenses of gender theory and the social-scientific model of honour and shame. By observing the unequal power structures and the suppression of female bodies, the study indicates that the daughter, through her dance, gained agency, reconstructed her identity, and displaced power on a dance floor. Instead of being a sexual male gaze, she became a negotiator to Herod. / Dissertation (MTh)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / New Testament Studies / MTh / Unrestricted

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/78480
Date January 2020
CreatorsMolopyane, Lethabo Melissa
ContributorsVan Eck, Ernest, lethabomelissa@gmail.com
PublisherUniversity of Pretoria
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Rights© 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.

Page generated in 0.0018 seconds