Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance: Performing the Entangled Histories of Cuba and West Africa

Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance explores shared religious expression across continents through storytelling and performance, highlighting the emotional and spiritual impacts of the transatlantic slave trade on communities. The volume combines historiographic data with artistic modes to challenge conventional scholarship and promote collaboration between scientists and artists.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 14 February 2023
Publisher: University Press of Florida

Through a groundbreaking ethnographic approach that foregrounds storytelling and performance as alternative means of knowledge, Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance delves into the shared ritual traditions between the Anlo-Ewe people of West Africa and their descendants, the Arará of Cuba, who were brought to the island in the transatlantic slave trade. The volume draws on two decades of research in four communities: Dzodze, Ghana; Adjodogou, Togo; and Perico and Agramonte, Cuba. In the ceremonies, oral narratives, and daily lives of individuals at each field site, the authors not only identify shared attributes in religious expression across continents but also reveal lasting emotional, spiritual, and personal impacts in the communities whose ancestors were ripped from their homeland and enslaved. The authors layer historiographic data, interviews, and fieldnotes with artistic modes such as true fiction, memoir, and choreographed narrative, challenging the conventional nature of scholarship with insights gained from sensorial experience.

Including reflections on the making of an art installation based on this research project, the volume challenges readers to imagine the potential of approaching fieldwork as artists. The authors argue that creative methods can convey truths deeper than facts, pointing to new possibilities for collaboration between scientists and artists with relevance to any discipline.

Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781683403531