- Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:18 am
#16271
Howdy!
I just found a couple of interesting works that I would like to share with y'all. The first two are found online, the rest you might be able to get them through your (university) library or buy them online. They are not expensive, generally speaking. The degree of relatedness to mande tradition varies among these works for sure. Of course this is not an exhaustive list. For instance, there are works like Vera Flaig's diss. or Rainer Polak's. I am sure they have received attention elsewhere in the forum.
1. Inside a Master Drummer’s Mind: A Quantitative Theory of Structures in African Music. Willie Anku. Transcultural Music Review 2007. Key words: transcription of African music, levels of reality, reality state, ideal state, ethnic perception, cultural perception. It can be found here: http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/trans11/art05.htm.
2. African drumming as a means of enhancing diversity training in the workplace : a case study of a private Durban-based hospital. Govender, Praneschen. University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.
Abstract: In recent times, African drumming organisations in South Africa and worldwide have
adopted group drumming as an experiential learning mechanism for facilitating interactive
teambuilding within organisations so as to enhance group dynamics and build team spirit.
Research conducted on drumming circles indicates that group drumming fosters a sense of
community by breaking down barriers between participants and creating a space where
respect and tolerance for others are valued. In light of South Africa‟s recent history of
apartheid, various issues discussed as part of diversity training workshops (e.g. prejudice and
negative stereotyping) remain “emotionally charged” topics which are “handled with care” by
trainers in the corporate training environment. In light of this, the study aims to investigate
the role of African drumming in creating an environment that encourages open and honest
communication around sensitive issues in the context of diversity training. In addition, the
study assesses the impact of group drumming on staff motivation, levels of participation and
building a sense of community amongst participants in the context of diversity training.
Primary research was conducted on a purposely-selected sample group of staff at a private
Durban-based hospital scheduled to attend an innovative diversity training initiative,
comprising of a short group drumming component followed by a conventional diversity
training workshop. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and
focus group discussion were implemented in compiling a case study of diversity training
workshops conducted at the hospital.
Description: Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.
It can be downloaded here: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/754
3. Building community: African dancing and drumming in the little village of Tallahassee, Florida by Davis-Craig, Andrea-La Toya, Ph.D., THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 2009, 195 pages; 3373983
Abstract: A socially created community has emerged in Tallahassee, Florida, with West African dancing and drumming at its core. This phenomenological study is to describe and understand the nature of the African dancing and drumming community in Tallahassee, Florida, and its function within its participants' lives as focused on from a group paradigm using a participant case study design. The basic research question is what are the factors that allow African dancing and drumming to help build "community" as the participants describe community? This research uses social survey document analysis, participant observation, interviews (personal and oral history), and focus group methodology to (1) provide an accurate historical account of the development, major milestones, and contributors to the Tallahassee African dance and drum scene, (2) determine what the participants mean by the term "community" and establish a definition of community based on their meaning utilizing the McMillan and Chavis (1986, 1996) model, and (3) identify what factors led to the creation and sustaining of this sense of community.
Based on my research, I was able to develop a context specific definition for the term community: The Tallahassee African Dance and Drum community consists of multi-generation members, relating and functioning like a family, providing support and energy for one another, while paying homage to the African cultural traditions, developing through an organic evolution and maintaining through a love for the art. Additionally, through this research process I have identified a set of key elements necessary to create and sustain the members' sense of community. These elements are: (a) appreciation of tradition; (b) concept of family; (c) communication; (d) support; (e) energy; (f) love of the arts.
I have found that in the Tallahassee African dance and drum community, dance has extended beyond a classroom experience and has integrated itself into a way of functioning for most participants. The embracing of family along with the cultural and organizational traditions (social organization) that are in place has created a village (in the African sense of the word) in the capital city of Florida.
4. Modern-day griots: Imagining Africa, choreographing experience, in a West African performance in New York by Mekuria, Wosenyelesh, PhD, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 2006, 0 pages; 3232034
Abstract: This dissertation examines the production and practice of African dance performances in New York based on the music and dances from West Africa. The performances that I examine are not staged performances, rather they take place in a dance studio setting. New York has been central to the historical development of African dance outside of the continent due to trans-Atlantic ties that were established between Black American artists and political activists in America and West Africa. Since the period of intense interaction in the 1960's, African dance has become commercialized via World Music and is practiced by an eclectic population. Presently the performers who participate in these dance and musical practices include West Africans, a mix of African and Euro-Americans, and several other international groups. African dance performances serve as a mask for individuals to explore marginal forms of experience that do not conform to mainstream values surrounding aesthetics or subjectivity. West Africans take part in performances mainly for professional or economic goals but also to gain new forms of experience by re-thinking Africa in a new social context. While African dance performances have enriched the collective and individual experience of participants, the creative exchanges among them traverse diverse social movements, ideologies and artistic practices and involve a cultural protectionism of both space and experience. African dance has been produced within a dialogue and through a plurality of competing discourses that both fix and destabilize identities based on claims to authenticity. These claims have been inspired by a universal paradigm that associates both the performers and African dance with authentic or rooted cultures. The competing discourses are informed by a Black Diaspora aesthetics, a commodified version of exoticism and a quest for authenticity. Authenticity is an ambiguous term that describes both the source and a quality of personal experience that is derived by taking part in African dance performances. Performance participants describe their experiences as being pleasurable or symbolically meaningful and associate their practice with an authentic West African tradition. By highlighting the power dynamics involved in struggles over defining the aesthetic standards of African dance, the results of this research address the relations between aesthetics, cultural production and personhood in American life.
5. Traditional rhythms and global remixes: Translating form in contemporary Mali dance collectives by Hyacinthe, Genevieve Arrindell, Ph.D., HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2008, 456 pages; 3334848
Abstract: Nuances of Malian performance, with emphasis on complexities inherent to performers' movements and self-presentation strategies as individuals aware of their roles in a larger dance collective are probed here. I call these performers (the individual and collective) dance ensembles. Ethnographic methodologies synthesized into my approach, are complemented by modes of interrogation, analysis, and theory, from various disciplines including art history, phenomenology, black cultural studies, African ethnomusicology, African studies, folklore, gender studies, and popular culture. Importantly, Malian (particularly the Bamana culture) aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural systems provide a foundational theoretical ground. This research is complemented by my fieldwork in Mali where I studied and documented dance in both urban and village contexts during trips conducted between December 2001 and January, 2007 and my training as a dancer and drummer of djembe and djun-djun drum music both in Mali and with Malian master teachers in the Boston area.
The four key Malian dance collectives presented illustrate the primacy of collective action in Malian performance: Sounou, a dance of Malian womanhood, underscores feminine gender formation through the individual action of dancers and their interactions among themselves, accompanying musicians, and active audience members. Chi Wara, a traditional agricultural masked dance, reflects socio-spiritual relationships between the land and the collective that both farms and dances upon it. The "political dances" performed by the subjects of photographer Malick Sidib?'s teen portraits offer insights into the position of Malian youth during the second phase of the country's independence. The global designs and choreographies of the models fashioned by Malian designer, Xuly B?t, explore the performance of Malian fashioned bodies--styled and choreographed--as contributors to a high-fashion global aesthetic.
These dynamic Malian dance forms evoking music and dance, all have complicated ensemble structures with roots in Mande call and response musical formats. Moreover, each example exists within everyday life, be it a dance performed in a village square celebrating the spirit of a beautiful girl, on a field for better harvests, in a local photographer's studio located in the heart of Bamako, or within the pages of a popular fashion magazine.
Cheers
I just found a couple of interesting works that I would like to share with y'all. The first two are found online, the rest you might be able to get them through your (university) library or buy them online. They are not expensive, generally speaking. The degree of relatedness to mande tradition varies among these works for sure. Of course this is not an exhaustive list. For instance, there are works like Vera Flaig's diss. or Rainer Polak's. I am sure they have received attention elsewhere in the forum.
1. Inside a Master Drummer’s Mind: A Quantitative Theory of Structures in African Music. Willie Anku. Transcultural Music Review 2007. Key words: transcription of African music, levels of reality, reality state, ideal state, ethnic perception, cultural perception. It can be found here: http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/trans11/art05.htm.
2. African drumming as a means of enhancing diversity training in the workplace : a case study of a private Durban-based hospital. Govender, Praneschen. University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.
Abstract: In recent times, African drumming organisations in South Africa and worldwide have
adopted group drumming as an experiential learning mechanism for facilitating interactive
teambuilding within organisations so as to enhance group dynamics and build team spirit.
Research conducted on drumming circles indicates that group drumming fosters a sense of
community by breaking down barriers between participants and creating a space where
respect and tolerance for others are valued. In light of South Africa‟s recent history of
apartheid, various issues discussed as part of diversity training workshops (e.g. prejudice and
negative stereotyping) remain “emotionally charged” topics which are “handled with care” by
trainers in the corporate training environment. In light of this, the study aims to investigate
the role of African drumming in creating an environment that encourages open and honest
communication around sensitive issues in the context of diversity training. In addition, the
study assesses the impact of group drumming on staff motivation, levels of participation and
building a sense of community amongst participants in the context of diversity training.
Primary research was conducted on a purposely-selected sample group of staff at a private
Durban-based hospital scheduled to attend an innovative diversity training initiative,
comprising of a short group drumming component followed by a conventional diversity
training workshop. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and
focus group discussion were implemented in compiling a case study of diversity training
workshops conducted at the hospital.
Description: Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.
It can be downloaded here: http://hdl.handle.net/10413/754
3. Building community: African dancing and drumming in the little village of Tallahassee, Florida by Davis-Craig, Andrea-La Toya, Ph.D., THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 2009, 195 pages; 3373983
Abstract: A socially created community has emerged in Tallahassee, Florida, with West African dancing and drumming at its core. This phenomenological study is to describe and understand the nature of the African dancing and drumming community in Tallahassee, Florida, and its function within its participants' lives as focused on from a group paradigm using a participant case study design. The basic research question is what are the factors that allow African dancing and drumming to help build "community" as the participants describe community? This research uses social survey document analysis, participant observation, interviews (personal and oral history), and focus group methodology to (1) provide an accurate historical account of the development, major milestones, and contributors to the Tallahassee African dance and drum scene, (2) determine what the participants mean by the term "community" and establish a definition of community based on their meaning utilizing the McMillan and Chavis (1986, 1996) model, and (3) identify what factors led to the creation and sustaining of this sense of community.
Based on my research, I was able to develop a context specific definition for the term community: The Tallahassee African Dance and Drum community consists of multi-generation members, relating and functioning like a family, providing support and energy for one another, while paying homage to the African cultural traditions, developing through an organic evolution and maintaining through a love for the art. Additionally, through this research process I have identified a set of key elements necessary to create and sustain the members' sense of community. These elements are: (a) appreciation of tradition; (b) concept of family; (c) communication; (d) support; (e) energy; (f) love of the arts.
I have found that in the Tallahassee African dance and drum community, dance has extended beyond a classroom experience and has integrated itself into a way of functioning for most participants. The embracing of family along with the cultural and organizational traditions (social organization) that are in place has created a village (in the African sense of the word) in the capital city of Florida.
4. Modern-day griots: Imagining Africa, choreographing experience, in a West African performance in New York by Mekuria, Wosenyelesh, PhD, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, 2006, 0 pages; 3232034
Abstract: This dissertation examines the production and practice of African dance performances in New York based on the music and dances from West Africa. The performances that I examine are not staged performances, rather they take place in a dance studio setting. New York has been central to the historical development of African dance outside of the continent due to trans-Atlantic ties that were established between Black American artists and political activists in America and West Africa. Since the period of intense interaction in the 1960's, African dance has become commercialized via World Music and is practiced by an eclectic population. Presently the performers who participate in these dance and musical practices include West Africans, a mix of African and Euro-Americans, and several other international groups. African dance performances serve as a mask for individuals to explore marginal forms of experience that do not conform to mainstream values surrounding aesthetics or subjectivity. West Africans take part in performances mainly for professional or economic goals but also to gain new forms of experience by re-thinking Africa in a new social context. While African dance performances have enriched the collective and individual experience of participants, the creative exchanges among them traverse diverse social movements, ideologies and artistic practices and involve a cultural protectionism of both space and experience. African dance has been produced within a dialogue and through a plurality of competing discourses that both fix and destabilize identities based on claims to authenticity. These claims have been inspired by a universal paradigm that associates both the performers and African dance with authentic or rooted cultures. The competing discourses are informed by a Black Diaspora aesthetics, a commodified version of exoticism and a quest for authenticity. Authenticity is an ambiguous term that describes both the source and a quality of personal experience that is derived by taking part in African dance performances. Performance participants describe their experiences as being pleasurable or symbolically meaningful and associate their practice with an authentic West African tradition. By highlighting the power dynamics involved in struggles over defining the aesthetic standards of African dance, the results of this research address the relations between aesthetics, cultural production and personhood in American life.
5. Traditional rhythms and global remixes: Translating form in contemporary Mali dance collectives by Hyacinthe, Genevieve Arrindell, Ph.D., HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2008, 456 pages; 3334848
Abstract: Nuances of Malian performance, with emphasis on complexities inherent to performers' movements and self-presentation strategies as individuals aware of their roles in a larger dance collective are probed here. I call these performers (the individual and collective) dance ensembles. Ethnographic methodologies synthesized into my approach, are complemented by modes of interrogation, analysis, and theory, from various disciplines including art history, phenomenology, black cultural studies, African ethnomusicology, African studies, folklore, gender studies, and popular culture. Importantly, Malian (particularly the Bamana culture) aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural systems provide a foundational theoretical ground. This research is complemented by my fieldwork in Mali where I studied and documented dance in both urban and village contexts during trips conducted between December 2001 and January, 2007 and my training as a dancer and drummer of djembe and djun-djun drum music both in Mali and with Malian master teachers in the Boston area.
The four key Malian dance collectives presented illustrate the primacy of collective action in Malian performance: Sounou, a dance of Malian womanhood, underscores feminine gender formation through the individual action of dancers and their interactions among themselves, accompanying musicians, and active audience members. Chi Wara, a traditional agricultural masked dance, reflects socio-spiritual relationships between the land and the collective that both farms and dances upon it. The "political dances" performed by the subjects of photographer Malick Sidib?'s teen portraits offer insights into the position of Malian youth during the second phase of the country's independence. The global designs and choreographies of the models fashioned by Malian designer, Xuly B?t, explore the performance of Malian fashioned bodies--styled and choreographed--as contributors to a high-fashion global aesthetic.
These dynamic Malian dance forms evoking music and dance, all have complicated ensemble structures with roots in Mande call and response musical formats. Moreover, each example exists within everyday life, be it a dance performed in a village square celebrating the spirit of a beautiful girl, on a field for better harvests, in a local photographer's studio located in the heart of Bamako, or within the pages of a popular fashion magazine.
Cheers
