ABSTRACT
The relation between “particularism” and “universalism” in African American cultural practice and intellectual thought is a strenuous one. Claims for particularism, as they have been articulated by leading figures like Martin Delany, Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X, for example, aimed at constructing a sense of communal identity in line with nationalist aspirations. The calls for black pride and power and celebration of a common historical and ancestral past of blacks in the US and the diaspora, which served to foster black unity and nationalism, clashed with the ideals of integrationist universalism, as promulgated most prominently by W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr., who framed the fight for black rights as a fight for the rights of man. Against this background it becomes clear that the relation between particularism and universalism constitutes the center of a debate that has been most virulent with regards to political concerns such as the struggle for racial equality and self-determination. At the same time this tense relationship is at the core of black American cultural practice, which has historically offered counter-discourses to hegemonic constructions of race, gender, class, sexuality, and nationhood and hence long been considered crucial for articulating political goals or ethical ideals. The question of how the strenuous relationship between particularism and universalism is navigated in politically and/or ethically significant ways becomes especially interesting in the context of dance, considering that dance constitutes a culturally specific practice and yet has often been conceived as an artistic medium that moves beyond the confines of language as a vehicle of communication and thus has the potential to transcend cultural differences to some extent. 1 Against this background, this chapter explores the artistic vision informing the concert dance performances of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world’s most successful and popular dance companies which incited a breakthrough for black modern dance, under the directions of Alvin Ailey from 1958 to 1989 and his successor, Judith Jamison.
