Trance and Dance in Bali

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Husband and wife anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead ventured to the island of Bali (now Indonesia) in 1936 to document the country’s culture including such behaviors as parent-child interactions, artists at work, and ritual performances and ceremonies in which participants meditate to reach a half-conscious state in order to commune with spirits of ancestors. When possessed by these spirits, those involved may perform unusual acts such as eating glass or fire, until they are brought out of the trance by a shaman. While Mead and Bateson’s field work is still considered groundbreaking for illustrating how film could be used as a research tool, it has been criticized, particularly for not accounting sufficiently for the role of religion in Balinese culture. Named to the National Film Registry in 1999.