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Author Jing, Thomas, author.

Title In pursuit of an African traditional dance : an afrocentric historical study of Buum Oku Dance Yaounde / Thomas Jing
Published Mankon, Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon : Langaa RPCIG, [2022]
©2022

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 167 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Foreword. The Buum Oku Dance Yaounde: Dancing Afrocentricity and Afrocentricizing Dancing -- Overview and Introduction -- African traditional dance as part of my travelling cultural portfolio -- An In-depth Appreciation of the Most Significant Problems -- African Traditional Dance and Black Emancipation -- Outline of the Book -- Chapter 1 -- Afrocentricity/Afrocentric Theory -- Definitions and perspectives -- Afrocentricity: origin and intellectual contributions to the theory -- Chapter 2 -- Data Collection and Methods -- Interviews -- Chapter 3 -- Theoretical Conceptualization and Methodologies of Study -- Analytical dimensions of an Afrocentric historical production of Buum Oku Dance -- Ethical considerations -- Chapter 4 -- Background to Historical Production of the Dance -- Components of the Buum Oku Dance Yaounde -- Oku conception of dance -- Music and outfit accessories of the Buum Oku Dance Yaounde -- Chapter 5 -- Historical Production of Buum Oku Dance -- The Early days of the Oku Subi Dance -- The Buum Oku Dance Yaounde -- Current trends in Buum Oku Dance and conclusion -- Bibliography -- Glossary of some important Eblam Ebkuo (Oku) terms -- Appendices
Summary "Africa is rich in (neo) traditional dances; yet, not much exists in the form of written literature on the subject. Even worse, existing documents date back to the colonial period and are often disparaging. Dance to Africans is what martial arts are to Asians. Embedded in them are some of the solutions to many of the problems wracking the African diaspora: gang violence, drug addiction, and high school dropout rates, etc. When Guinea's Ballets Africains first bursts on the international scene in the late fifties and sixties, the black revolution in the US was in full swing. The troupe's emancipatory message enkindled in African Americans a new sense of cultural pride and a return to their African roots. For once, dance became something else other than the ballet. With that burst of enthusiasm came the need to introduce African dances in the academia. Most of the research, however, focused mainly on dances which use drums (djembe). Departing from that tradition, in this detailed and richly choreographed ethnography on the Buum Oku Dance Yaounde, Thomas Jing's investigation into a xylophone-based dance opens up new research avenues and exposes the challenges involved. An Afrocentric theoretical framework to the research counters imperialist notions of African dances, thus setting them up as a tool for emancipation"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (Project MUSE platform, viewed April 19, 2023)
Subject Dance -- Cameroon -- Yaoundé
Oku (African people)
Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social.
Dance
Oku (African people)
Cameroon -- Yaoundé
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9789956552313
9956552313