Vying over the Body: Spiritual Healing and Dance Practices of Christians in Contemporary Taiwan

This research project aims at exploring the embodied experiences of the Holy Spirit among the contemporary Christians in Taiwan. It will be conducted through participant observations of the congregations and interviews with members who have experienced spiritual healing and exorcism. The research will last for three years (from July 2020 to June 2023). For the first year (July 2020~June 2021), it will take place in the church network of the Taishan Local Church, including its branches in Taipei City, Chungli, Pintung, Kaohsiung, and Taichung. The investigator intends participate in the congregations and interview up to forty members from different branches. The investigator will take field notes of observations. The interviews will be recorded and transcribed. All the data will be kept for ten years till June 2030 during which the transcriptions and other personal material will be kept anonymously. The data will be used for future presentations in conferences and papers in academic journals or books. The research results will also be shared with Chang Chin-Kuo Foundation which is the funding body of the research.