Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy

Abstract

This study focuses on the African American dance pedagogy designed by Katherine Dunham and how this story is linked to the intellectual genealogy of African American anthropology. Dunham is argued to be a "decolonizing dance pedagogue" to describe how she recovered important dance epistemologies relevant to people of the African diaspora. Reconciling the consequences of colonization and racism in the "new world," she engaged in a "critical postcolonial dance recovery." Dunham's dance education developed from ethnographic research was used to disseminate relevant cultural and spiritual capital in the United States (Cruz Banks, 2009b). Her dance pedagogy is connected to historical and current discourses on racism, colonialism, and practices of decolonizing research.

Black voices in Anthropology

“…Durante a sua trajetória como etnógrafa e bailarina, Katherine Dunham (1909Dunham ( -2006 perseguiu um desafio: como tornar visíveis e presentes os rituais baseados no movimento, na dança, na possessão e na supressão das dimensões espaçotemporais? Desde muito cedo, em sua formação acadêmica e artística, Dunham percebeu que o texto não é capaz de capturar e transmitir o universo da dança em toda a sua complexidade e riqueza (Aschenbrenner 2002;Banks 2012). Por isso, ao documentar em registros audiovisuais as pesquisas sobre danças e rituais de possessão em comunidades negras nos Estados Unidos e no Caribe, Dunham também se tornou pioneira na arte do registro fotográfico e fílmico como métodos de pesquisa etnográfica (Dee Das 2017).…”

Historical Development and Cross-Cultural Influence of Dance Creation: Evolution of Body Language

“…It extends beyond mere movements and postures of dancers; it is a form of corporeal language with profound cultural backgrounds and cross-cultural impacts. Over time, dance creation has evolved through different cultures and historical periods, giving rise to unique dance traditions (Banks, 2012;Caldwell, 2013;Carmichael, 2013;Du, 2023, Goodill & Schelly Hill, 2017Grayson, Howard, & Puloka, 2019;Hérard-Marshall & Rivera, 2019;Kawano & Chang, 2022;Kenny, 2002). This article will delve into the historical development of dance creation and how it has shaped the evolution of corporeal language in a cross-cultural context.…”

Dancing the Word:

“…88Religious symbols and themes (not limited to Christianity) were prominent in the works of pioneering black choreographers such as Alvin Ailey and Katherine Dunham, who famously explored aspects of the African American experience through movement (Banks ; DeFrantz ).…”