Cultural Context
Re-Storying the Stage: Contemporary Ritual Performance Dance as Decolonial Praxis
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cinthia Duran Larrea
How are some ramifications of globalization aiding decolonizing efforts and agendas pushed forward by communities of indigenous descent in the Americas? How is ritual performance dance a vehicle for this? These are the two overarching questions explored in this paper. By looking at two contemporary examples of dancing communities, one geographically located in New Mexico, USA, and the other in the Southern Peruvian Andes as well as the capital city of Lima, I explore how ritual dances are a medium for the regeneration of ontological world-views and relationships, and how the efforts to preserve them are strategies for decolonial resistance. This paper highlights both, the agency of these communities over the dynamic continuity of their identity, knowledge systems and spirituality, as well as the historical context in the midst of which they are re-defining themselves. I start by providing an overview of how communities of indigenous descent in the Americas have negotiated their identity in relation to processes such as colonization, the consolidation of capitalism manifested in urban growth and migration, to then move forward to analyze the way they are interacting with the challenges and opportunities posed by the globalization of media and technology, human mobility, markets, and discourses around culture and heritage. Specifically, I critically analyze how the commodification of ritual expressions and the acquisition of institutional recognition as Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity are contemporary strategies for decolonial resistance as they provide the necessary symbolic and material resources to advocate for their agendas.
An Analysis of Gullah Geechee Music Throughout History : An Arts-Based Research Study and Composition
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Melanie Shaw, Paul Shaw
The Gullah Geechee people were brought over as slaves from West Africa to the sea islands, spanning from North Carolina to Florida. Because of the remote location of these islands, many of their cultural traditions were preserved. Notably, Gullah Geechee music has generated research interest can be heard in songs like Kumbaya and Michael Row the Boat Ashore. In this arts-based research study, Gullah Geechee music from the late 1800s through today is analyzed to identify unique sonic, lyric, and rhythmic features. Based on the findings, a musical composition has been created, inspired by the characteristics of Gullah Geechee songs throughout history. During the session, musical examples and the composition will be shared and discussed to identify analytic features to encourage dialogue, cultural preservation, and creative sharing.
La Forte Cittadina: Understanding Cultural Heritage to Build Resilience in the Sardinian Context
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Raghav Aggarwal
This paper explores and examines the ways in which Sardinia and its inhabitants have conceptualized, negotiated, and preserved their identity in the wake of globalisation by recognizing tangible and intangible aspects of their cultural heritage to be part of their sustainable development process. Through a confluence of current literature and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Sardinia, this paper considers Sardinia as a case study of ways in which planners and locals in depopulating geographies can leverage their cultural heritage to become resilient in contemporary times.
The Maasai of Kenya: A Case Study in Positive Peace and Strategic Adaptation to Globalization
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jennifer Bess
The Maasai launched their official quest for an independent Maasailand in the 1950s when Britain was decolonizing Kenya and Tanzania. Today, as these pastoralists seek to reunify their pre-colonial territory and preserve fundamental lifeways, they practice resistant or strategic adaptation, i.e. engaging intentionally with global economies, politics, and identities in ways that support their conservative agenda. Through the twenty-first century, the Maasai of Kenya have embraced a mixed economy, maintaining their cattle herds and participating in tourism-related wage labor. Their leadership in sustainable wildlife management has led to international alliances and visibility, thus enhancing their global social capital. More recently, the opportunities afforded by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) expanded their network of potential allies. While the BRI may bring Kenya more costs than benefits, China’s articulated commitment to including the Maasai in its development projects provides a dynamic setting in which the Maasai advocate for communal values, ecological civilization, and non-liberal—or, more accurately, not-only-liberal—ideals. Such international alliances represent one of many nested identities for the Maasai as their involvement in national politics includes grassroots educational campaigns designed to immunize voters against the identity-based divisiveness that led to violent conflict following the 2007 elections. Thus, nested or hybrid identities not only serve Maasai objectives, but provide for Kenya a model of positive peace, whose principles include environmental sustainability, equitable distribution of resources, complex networks of reciprocal relationships, and government accountability.
