ABSTRACT
Examining the central research findings within dancehall's ‘early vibe’, ‘man dem’, ‘female’ and ‘coupling’ sections, Chapter 9 extracts and analyses how spiritual meaning manifests within representations of dancehall corporeal dancing bodies, by briefly elaborating on some of the key elements. It advances a framework for the re-imagining of dancehall as a spiritual practice in addressing the three primary research questions raised by this investigation: Is the spiritual worldview of African forbears reimagined within the dancehall space? Is the dancing body a vessel for the transference of spiritual (en)coding within the Jamaican dancehall space? What spiritualities are emerging from dancehall?
Discussing key features that establish dancehall's signification as a spiritual practice, the first question is addressed by exploring what a ‘dancehall spirituality’ might consist of and ways in which much of the spiritual worldviews of African forebears appear and are constantly reimagined within dancehall cultural expression. The modes through which dancehall corporeal dancing bodies facilitate the transference and (en)coding of spiritual knowledge is brought to the fore in dialogue with the ways in which dancehall itself now represents a post-modern secular spiritual practice and space. This advances a new framework for the establishment of ‘dancehall spirituality’ as an embodied Jamaican spirituality.
