Uzor, Tia-Monique (2023) Tidalectic unmapping and the performance of African diasporic imagination in the repertory of Katherine Dunham. Dance Research Journal. ISSN 0149-7677 (In Press)

Abstract

This paper foregrounds imagination to consider how African Diasporic conditions converge with choreographic expression. The analysis “un/maps” dominant understandings of the choreographic process of mid-twentieth century African American choreographer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham by expanding Kamau E. Brathwaite’s (1993) concept of Tidalectics beyond the Caribbean to the wider African Diaspora and a distinctly Caribbean comprehension of Diasporic imagination. Utilizing datasets and visualizations created by the project Dunham’s Data: Katherine Dunham and Digital Methods for Dance Historical Inquiry the paper traces how the concept of Brazil is imagined and reimagined within Dunham’s archive from 1937-1962. In doing so, it considers the complex positionality of Dunham as both a pioneering minoritized woman navigating the politics of race, gender, and financial precarity and as someone who yielded their imperial privilege as a US citizen through their career to bring nuance to Dunham's narrative as a canonical dance figure.

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Official URL:	https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/dance-rese...
Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Digital Arts and Humanities Performance Dance Race
Depositing User:	Dr Tia-Monique Uzor
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2023 12:21
Last Modified:	22 Nov 2023 12:21
URI:	https://crco.cssd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1778