Reimagining African Diaspora Dance in Higher Education Curricula

The Black Scholar Journal of Black Studies and Research ISSN: 0006-4246 (Print) 2162-5387 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtbs20 Beyond Hierarchy Takiyah Nur Amin To cite this article: Takiyah Nur Amin (2016) Beyond Hierarchy, The Black Scholar, 46:1, 15-26, DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2015.1119634 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2015.1119634 Published online: 03 Feb 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 11 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rtbs20 Download by: [University of North Carolina Charlotte] Date: 23 February 2016, At: 17:22 Beyond Hierarchy mutually constitutive practices, of which performance is only one. Building on McCarthy- Reimagining African Diaspora Dance in Brown, Doug Risener, Julie Kerr-Berry and Higher Education Curricula others, I argue for a reimagining of curricula that, using African diaspora dance as an TAKIYAH NUR AMIN example, destabilizes the central position of Western and historically privileged move- s dance became ensconced in the ment and approaches. Centering an invest- A academy with the early 1960s establish- ment in the development of twenty- ment of programs at UC-Irvine, UC-Los first-century skills (including communication, Angeles and others,1 department curricula collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, generally prioritized European-derived move- digital/media literacy, and global awareness), ment vocabularies, aesthetics and approaches I posit that a practice-based (as opposed to a to dance education. This emphasis on what Dr. performance-based) approach to the develop- NyamaMcCarthy-Brownreferstoas“western ment of higher-education dance curricula and historically privileged techniques”2 mar- creates space for African diaspora dance and ginalized other movement vocabularies and similarly marginalized movement vocabul- perspectives, including African-derived aries to be amplified within the academy, dances and their aesthetic principles, within and in undergraduate dance education higher-education dance curricula. Citing specifically. By understanding dance as an Judith Lynne Hanna’s Partnering Dance and academic discipline grounded in a set of inter- Education, McCarthy-Brown notes Sarah Hil- related practices (including research, teach- sendager’s revealing quote: ing, movement, somatic, choreographic, and pedagogical approaches,) institutions com- The majority of university dance programs mitted to inclusive, progressive and meaning- emphasize Ballet and Modern genres, ful curricula can abandon the historic “which are Eurocentric in both content and prioritization of Eurocentric approaches to teaching approach.” Dance forms with movement and embrace a fuller range of pos- origins other than Europe are often slighted, sibilities for undergraduate dance students in causing future teachers to be unprepared for higher education. working with diverse student populations.3 Why African Diaspora Dance? The emphasis in undergraduate dance edu- Downloaded by [University of North Carolina Charlotte] at 17:22 23 February 2016 Definitions, Terminology and the cation in particular on performance as Context of Higher Education central to the course of study often leaves little room for thorough and critical consider- The African diaspora refers to communities ation of other aspects of dance as an aca- that descend from the movement of native demic discipline. While dance is a peoples from Africa, predominantly to the performing art, it is also a humanities disci- Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, pline, constituted by overlapping and among other areas around the globe. As © 2016 The Black World Foundation The Black Scholar 2016 Vol. 46, No. 1, 15–26, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2015.1119634 such, the umbrella term “African diaspora dance in US higher education. Studying dance” refers to the full range of dance and American dance history without critical, sus- expressive movement vocabularies, aes- tained engagement with African diaspora thetics, and philosophies emanating from dance renders one’s education thoroughly these communities. The term recognizes tra- deficient. As Kerr-Berry writes, higher edu- ditional and/or classical corporeal forms, as cation “fails to fully represent American well as contemporary movement vocabul- dance as a product of cultural fusion in all aries emerging from across the diaspora. facets of a dance student’s educational experi- Within the context of African diaspora ences” and “curricula and pedagogic prac- dance, one might explore the historical roots tices are unsuccessful in acknowledging the of hip hop dance as a contemporary African- assumptions of white superiority” that main- derived form as readily as theorizing the tain this state of affairs.4 impact of postcolonial migration on dances While dance has managed to secure a pos- from a particular African language and/or cul- ition as a recognized academic discipline, it tural group. So-called “Latin” and “Carib- faces significant challenges in “diversifying its bean” dance forms are included within the faculty and student body, as well as its pedago- African diaspora dance framework, as are gic practices and curricula.” Kerr-Berry argues tap and jazz dance, uniquely North American that “such resistance exists because white forms shaped by Africanist aesthetics. hegemony is the norm in academia, which While other non-Eurocentric movement “has not kept pace with African-American vocabularies have been marginalized and/or concert dance participation.” The persistence sublimated within dance curricula in higher of white cultural dominance and the overwhel- education, I focus here on dances that mingly white dance faculty population in the emanate from the African diaspora, for three academy (79.5 percent in 2011)5 is certainly reasons. First, African diaspora dances rep- implicated in the marginalization of African resent some of the most dynamic, recogniz- diaspora dance within higher-education curri- able and influential movement vocabularies cula and the continued emphasis on highlight- in popular culture. One need only consider ing Western and historically privileged the ubiquitous impact of hip-hop dance’s movement vocabularies and aesthetics. While various iterations as evidence of its global the contemporary scholarship of Brenda stronghold. Second, African diaspora dances Dixon-Gottschild, Kariamu Welsh, Susan have been critical to the development of Manning, Thomas F. DeFrantz, John Perpener twentieth- and twenty-first-century American and others has increased the academic body Downloaded by [University of North Carolina Charlotte] at 17:22 23 February 2016 concert dance, whether explicitly referenced of knowledge about African diaspora dance, in choreography or deconstructed and appro- their work “is being integrated into college priated for their generative possibilities. Third, and university dance courses at a slow trickle as a persistent, influential and foundational —minimally affecting Eurocentric paradigms aspect of American culture, it is both odd of teaching and learning.”6 The persistent mar- and iniquitous that dances from the African ginalization of both the movement vocabul- diaspora remain marginal within the study of aries under the African diaspora dance 16 TBS • Volume 46 • Number 1 • Spring 2016 umbrella and scholarship that documents and [Including but … ] not limited to, the study theorizes its impactful contributions is a and interpretation of the following: language, notable blemish on dance in higher education. both modern and classical; linguistics; litera- Moreover, the impulse, when African diaspora ture; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; dance is present, to focus on how it is indistinct archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; from other dance forms in the spirit of multicul- the history, criticism and theory of the arts; turalism, only serves to “diminishes the nuance those aspects of social sciences which have and cultural specificity of all forms,”7 doing humanistic content and employ humanistic nothing to challenge the persistent dominance methods; and the study and application of of Eurocentric dance forms and aesthetics in the humanities to the human environment higher education. White cultural hegemony with particular attention to reflecting our within dance in higher education continues diverse heritage, traditions, and history and the marginalization of African diaspora to the relevance of the humanities to the dance, rendering its contributions, histories current conditions of national life.8 and aesthetics largely moot. A word on terminology: I use “movement Dance is both a performing art and a huma- vocabularies,”“approaches to movement,” or nities discipline. As a primal and exclusive “dance forms” in place of the more commonly aspect of the human experience pre-dating used terms “technique” and/or “style.” This is both spoken and written language, dance intentional: “technique” has been used to dis- functions in part as an embodied text by tinguish and prioritize European dance forms which heritage and tradition can be pre- and aesthetic approaches; “style” is often served, communicated and interpreted. invoked to reference vernacular, popular or Further, dance is a means by which “the “street” dance forms deemed to be less devel- current conditions of national life” are oped than the coveted Western forms of ballet explored and

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