Dancing for the Gods. The Nora Bird Dance of Southern Thailand' is the first comprehensive book in English to explore the Nora (Manora) kinship group, an ancient community of southern Thai Buddhists. Through song, dance and spirit possession, the colorful Nora performance has become a symbol of the Thai South in a region associated more with violence than rich cultural diversity.0Following many years of anthropological research along with Thai academic sources, the author explores this untold story about a struggle between tradition and modernity that pitted cousin against cousin. At the heart of this battle are capitalist motives, gender tension, ancestral retribution, and spirit mediums communicating with the supernatural world.