Staging Unity, Performing Subjectivities
Nkrumah, Nation-Building, and the Ghana Dance Ensemble
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12766497 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Schauert (0000-0002-6909-3626, Oakland University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 15-16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 373-412 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ghana Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1536-5514 • E-ISSN: 2333-7168 |
| Publisher | University of Wisconsin Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3368/gs.15-16.1.373 |
| OpenAlex | W4387512090 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
This article explores how Kwame Nkrumah and subsequent Ghanaian leaders used Ghana’s state dance ensemble to create and solidify a sense of unity among this nation’s citizens by propagating ideologies of African Personality and Pan-Africanism. Performing a diverse repertoire of dances, the Ghana Dance Ensemble has continually encouraged individuals to cross ethnic and national boundaries. Examining how artists variously interpret, embody, and express nationalism through music and dance performance, I interrogate processes by which performers reconcile national identity within themselves as it comes into contact with a pre-existing set of beliefs, identities, memories, and ontologies. I argue that while nationalism largely pushes individuals into an objectifying unitary identity, it is nevertheless embodied subjectively, according to the will of individuals
Aesthetics · Art · Dance · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Identity (music · Ideology · Literature · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Repertoire · Sociology · State (computer science · Visual arts · Anthropology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Highly cited | No |
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