/ TDPS 2032a, African Dance as Knowledge: Embodied Histories and Contemporary Transformations Staff

Description

This course explores African dance as an epistemological system—a living archive of history, spirituality, philosophy, and social knowledge. Students examine African dance not merely as a performance or aesthetic form but as a mode of knowing, transmitted across generations and situated within political, social, and ritual contexts. Through case studies from Cameroon and the African diaspora, students interrogate how “African dance” has been framed within Western academic and curatorial contexts and consider the ethical and methodological challenges of embodied research. The course integrates discussion, close reading, audiovisual analysis, and guided embodied practice as analytic tools. Students develop research projects or creative work grounded in African and Afro-diasporic performance studies, fostering critical engagement, reflexivity, and ethical scholarship. HU MW 2:35pm-3:50pm