Repeat Performance

Dancing DiDinga with the Lost Boys of Southern Sudan

Bibliographic Data

ID2957730
AuthorsFelicia Faye Mcmahon (corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume118
Issue469
Pages354-379
Publication date2005-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American Folklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jaf.2005.0033
OpenAlexW2051568507
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited12

In folklore studies, there is a dearth of information about the transnational processes by which diasporic communities actively negotiate their identities. In this article, I examine the variables that affect the cultural performances of the DiDinga, an understudied group of southern Sudanese refugees, known in the United States by the moniker "The Lost Boys." In today's world of globalization and transnationalism, documentation and interpretation of recontextualized performances is more critical than ever before. Part of this inquiry seeks to make explicit the tensions that affect ways by which this small group of parentless male youth come to consensus about appropriate and meaningful traditions performed for the public in a new context. Drawing on public sector work with refugees, I explore how folklore research contributes to identifying internal and external forces that act on the aesthetics of recontextualized performance of diasporic groups, as well as how folklorists work effectively to present and interpret recontextualized traditions of people now residing in the United States

Aesthetics · Affect (linguistics) · Art · Context (archaeology) · Documentation · Folklore · Globalization · Identity (music) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Sociology · Transnationalism · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · History · Law · Music History and Culture

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