1st Edition
Afrikinesis A Paradigm for Research on African and African Diaspora Dance
This book provides scholars and non-specialists alike with a roadmap for effectively conducting culturally aware, historically relevant research on African dance and on any dance style that contains African elements.
This book explains why Western research paradigms are inadequate for research on Africana dance. It exposes the value of utilizing an appropriate research paradigm that offers researchers a broader perspective and a transparent, unfettered process for analysis in under-researched topics such as African and African diaspora dance styles. Researchers are introduced to the African dance aesthetic, characteristically African body movements, definitions of steps, understandings within African culture, and a host of other jewels that facilitate a deeper grasp on the subject and refine the quality of the scholar’s research, its findings, and its proficiency.
This book will be of great interest to scholars of African dance studies.
List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
1 Performative practices and documentation through an African lens: An introduction
2 Overview of African culture and its reflection on dance
3 Identifying African dance body movements
4 Application of the Afrikinesis paradigm
5 A synergistic union: Afrikinesis and African dance research
Appendix
Quick reference glossary
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Ofosuwa M. Abiola, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Africana Dance History and Associate Dean of Research and Creative Endeavors at Howard University.
