Signs of the Spirit

"The real strength of the text lies in its reliance on the author's long-term fieldwork experiences and his nuanced and clearly communicated musical analysis to help elucidate the practices of a community whose experiences are worth recounting." --H-Net Reviews

"Perman's approach is an unambiguous recognition of the interpretive community's perspectives on an ethnography study's subject or text, which represents a clear adherence to a widely acknowledged good practice." --African Studies Quarterly

"Refreshing . . . Along with the theory and history, peppered throughout the text are the author's descriptions of people, places, and events; these are beautiful, person-centered and humanizing, in a way I wish all ethnographic writing would strive for." --Journal of Folklore Research