Multipartyism and Nostalgia for the Unified Past

Discourses of Democracy in a Dance Association in Cameroon

Bibliographic Data

ID2473625
AuthorsClare A Ignatowski (University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume19
Issue2
Pages276-298
Publication date2004-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0886-7356 • E-ISSN: 1548-1360
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/can.2004.19.2.276
OpenAlexW2003639139
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited16

Language and practices associated with democracy and multipartyism are used by practitioners of the gurna society among the Tupuri of northern Cameroon to comment on local changes in gurna dances and their attending social values. At the heart of this commentary is a widely-shared anxiety about moral standards for political action and the threat of factionalism, as well as nostalgia for unity among dancers and in society at large. This appropriation of a nationallevel lexicon enabled practitioners of an ostensibly "traditional" institution to revitalize their practice and comment on the broader political life of the nation

Action (physics · Appropriation · Art · Dance · Democracy · Epistemology · Institution · Lexicon · Linguistics · Literature · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · African Studies and Ethnography · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Gender Studies · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access