ABSTRACT

The book’s introduction presents the major argument for utilizing African dance systems as viable sources for constructing African historical and cultural narratives. It discusses the importance of African-derived primary sources and the deficiency in number and quality of written sources for African research. Many Africanist scholars and students depend too heavily on written sources for African history, only to discover that precolonial African-derived written sources are scarce. Thus, the book introduction argues that cultural sources such as dance that house a plethora of historical and contemporary cultural information should be utilized as primary sources for constructing historical and cultural narratives on Africa. African dance possesses a unique ability to depict historical accounts, provides a more nuanced understanding of cultural continuity and cultural change, and provides a voice for historically omitted or underresearched populations, such as women. Given Africa’s size and its diversity of cultures and dance systems, Mandinka dance systems and culture specifically, and Mande culture generally, are the focus of the book.