Anya Peterson Royce received a BA with Distinction from Stanford (1968) in Anthropology and Honors in Humanities, a MA (1971) and a Ph.D. (1974) in Anthropology from the University of California Berkeley. She joined the faculty of Indiana University in 1973. She is Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology and Comparative Literature and holds adjunct appointments in the Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies and Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

Royce's research has centered on three areas: the anthropology of dance and performing arts, cultural and ethnic identity, and the ethnography of Mexico, with particular focus on the Isthmus Zapotec. Her books in the first area,

Anya Peterson Royce turns the anthropological gaze on the performing arts, attempting to find broad commonalities in performance, art, and artists across space, time, and culture. She asks general questions as to the nature of artistic interpretation, the differences between virtuosity and artistry, and how artists interplay with audience, aesthetics, and style. To support her case, she examines artists as diverse as Fokine and the Ballets Russes, Tewa Indian dancers, 17th century commedia dell'arte, Japanese kabuki and butoh, Zapotec shamans, and the mime of Marcel Marceau, adding her own observations as a professional dancer in the classical ballet tradition. Royce also points to the recent move toward collaboration across artistic genres as evidence of the universality of aesthetics. Her analysis leads to a better understanding of artistic interpretation, artist-audience relationships, and the artistic imagination as cross-cultural phenomena. Over 29 black and white photographs and drawings illustrate the wide range of Royce's cross-cultural approach. Her well-crafted volume will be of great interest to anthropologists, arts researchers, and students of cultural studies and performing arts.