Modernity, ritual and diasporic culture

This chapter examines the staging, by Katherine Dunham and Berto Pasuka, of African diasporic movement material relating to spiritual possession for works performed in New York, London, and other European capitals. It argues that whereas Dunham’s aim was to teach both black and white audiences about the richness of black expressive culture, Pasuka’s work developed an anti-colonial dance theatre. Drawing on post-colonial theory, it identifies the different ways in which each choreographer presented African-derived rituals. By doing so, it argues, Dunham and Pasuka negotiated tensions between, on the one hand, pride in their African heritage and, on the other, their identities as educated modern black artists.