Topic: Kuwor’s article and Dancing under the Lash in Jooklyn

Paper details:

QUESTIONS: Restate and number the questions. Answer with complete sentences and be as thorough as possible.

Understanding African Dance in Context: Perspectives from Ghana
1. Kuwor states, “My aim is to create a window through which Westerners and non-African scholars can explore, understand and appreciate dance and other cultural forms of Africa in order to address issues of identity and cultural representation.” How does he accomplish this in this essay?

2. How does Kwame Nkrumah position dance as a means to reorient Ghanaians to African centered knowledge systems and identities?

3.How does Kuwor address the generalizing term “African dance?”

4.Describe Agbadz dance: history, importance, components, significance of the spine and pelvis.

5.What are the four holistic components of Ghanaian dance?

6.Discuss the marriage between music and dance in Ghanaian culture.
What questions do you have about this reading?

Jookin’: The Rise of Social dance Formations in African-American Culture by Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Gordon.Links to an external site.
1.Explain the importance of dance to African culture. Who dances in African societies?
2.How and why was “dance” used by European slavers according to accounts cited by Hazzard-Gordon?
3.Describe the conditions under which captive Africans “danced” aboard slave ships. How does this uncivilized treatment contradict the attitude of ship Captains?
4.Name one fear European slavers had that required the “regulation” of “dance” aboard their ships.

What questions do you have about this reading?

Journal Questions
1. Please share your overall experience in the class so far. What changes in your movement experience have you noticed?
2. Please share the exercises or steps you feel comfortable with and those that still challenge you.