Marion Kilson received her Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1967 and retired as dean of the Graduate School at Salem State University in 2001. Her previous books on Ga culture and society are Kpele Lala: Ga Religious Songs and Symbols and African Urban Kinsmen: the Ga of Central Accra.

• PrefaceChapter 1. Libation in Ga RitualChapter 2. Taxonomy and Form in Ga RitualChapter 3. The Structure of Ga PrayerChapter 4. “I Call You for Life”Chapter 5. Prayer and Song in Ga RitualChapter 6. Ritual Portrait of a Ga MediumChapter 7. Ambivalence and Power: Mediums in Ga ReligionChapter 8. Homowo: Celebrating Community in Ga CultureChapter 9. Bushcows in the SkyChapter 10. Twin Beliefs and Ceremony in Ga CultureChapter 11. The Ga Naming RiteChapter 12. Antelopes and Stools: Ga Ceremonial KingshipConcluding NoteBibliography

In Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual, Professor Marion Kilson expertly probes the verbal and non-verbal ritual behaviors of the Ga to provide us with a thoughtful understanding of the meaning of Ga beliefs and practices. Through her exposition we hear the voices of the people as they perform rites related to the fundamental necessities of living. Verbal ritual acts establish the contracts between spirits and objects, which the non-verbal component enacts. The two are thus inseparable in apprehending the complexities of Ga cosmology.Dr. Kilson’s approach is highly systematic. She lays out the properties by which the Ga order classes of beings and their existential values. Human beings are positioned in the middle between the Supreme Being and divine beings on one side and animals and plants on the other. This configuration provides the context of ritual and secular action, and to understand its meaning as a religious paradigm, Kilson draws upon major scholars within the sociology of religion. She demonstrates the power of the analytic tradition of the L’Annee Sociologique and its utility in understanding cosmologies. She has successfully undertaken the difficult task of providing us with an understanding of the meaning of a people’s ritual life.

Marion Kilson received her Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1967 and retired as dean of the Graduate School at Salem State University in 2001. Her previous books on Ga culture and society are Kpele Lala: Ga Religious Songs and Symbols and African Urban Kinsmen: the Ga of Central Accra.

• PrefaceChapter 1. Libation in Ga RitualChapter 2. Taxonomy and Form in Ga RitualChapter 3. The Structure of Ga PrayerChapter 4. “I Call You for Life”Chapter 5. Prayer and Song in Ga RitualChapter 6. Ritual Portrait of a Ga MediumChapter 7. Ambivalence and Power: Mediums in Ga ReligionChapter 8. Homowo: Celebrating Community in Ga CultureChapter 9. Bushcows in the SkyChapter 10. Twin Beliefs and Ceremony in Ga CultureChapter 11. The Ga Naming RiteChapter 12. Antelopes and Stools: Ga Ceremonial KingshipConcluding NoteBibliography

In Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual, Professor Marion Kilson expertly probes the verbal and non-verbal ritual behaviors of the Ga to provide us with a thoughtful understanding of the meaning of Ga beliefs and practices. Through her exposition we hear the voices of the people as they perform rites related to the fundamental necessities of living. Verbal ritual acts establish the contracts between spirits and objects, which the non-verbal component enacts. The two are thus inseparable in apprehending the complexities of Ga cosmology.Dr. Kilson’s approach is highly systematic. She lays out the properties by which the Ga order classes of beings and their existential values. Human beings are positioned in the middle between the Supreme Being and divine beings on one side and animals and plants on the other. This configuration provides the context of ritual and secular action, and to understand its meaning as a religious paradigm, Kilson draws upon major scholars within the sociology of religion. She demonstrates the power of the analytic tradition of the L’Annee Sociologique and its utility in understanding cosmologies. She has successfully undertaken the difficult task of providing us with an understanding of the meaning of a people’s ritual life.

Marion Kilson received her Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1967 and retired as dean of the Graduate School at Salem State University in 2001. Her previous books on Ga culture and society are Kpele Lala: Ga Religious Songs and Symbols and African Urban Kinsmen: the Ga of Central Accra.

• PrefaceChapter 1. Libation in Ga RitualChapter 2. Taxonomy and Form in Ga RitualChapter 3. The Structure of Ga PrayerChapter 4. “I Call You for Life”Chapter 5. Prayer and Song in Ga RitualChapter 6. Ritual Portrait of a Ga MediumChapter 7. Ambivalence and Power: Mediums in Ga ReligionChapter 8. Homowo: Celebrating Community in Ga CultureChapter 9. Bushcows in the SkyChapter 10. Twin Beliefs and Ceremony in Ga CultureChapter 11. The Ga Naming RiteChapter 12. Antelopes and Stools: Ga Ceremonial KingshipConcluding NoteBibliography

In Dancing with the Gods: Essays in Ga Ritual, Professor Marion Kilson expertly probes the verbal and non-verbal ritual behaviors of the Ga to provide us with a thoughtful understanding of the meaning of Ga beliefs and practices. Through her exposition we hear the voices of the people as they perform rites related to the fundamental necessities of living. Verbal ritual acts establish the contracts between spirits and objects, which the non-verbal component enacts. The two are thus inseparable in apprehending the complexities of Ga cosmology.Dr. Kilson’s approach is highly systematic. She lays out the properties by which the Ga order classes of beings and their existential values. Human beings are positioned in the middle between the Supreme Being and divine beings on one side and animals and plants on the other. This configuration provides the context of ritual and secular action, and to understand its meaning as a religious paradigm, Kilson draws upon major scholars within the sociology of religion. She demonstrates the power of the analytic tradition of the L’Annee Sociologique and its utility in understanding cosmologies. She has successfully undertaken the difficult task of providing us with an understanding of the meaning of a people’s ritual life.