International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Mabingo, A. (2022). ‘African dance’: The dangers of a homogenizing label. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 23(SI 1.2). Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea23si1.2

What is 'African dance'? Is the label ‘African dance’ representative enough of the diverse dance traditions in African communities, or is it just another form of tokenism? How is the term 'African dance' rooted in the histories of colonial racism against the African people? What are the dangers of using the same label as an attempt at instituting anti-racist curricular and interventions in universities, conservatories, dance studios, and dance companies? In problematizing the label ‘African dance’, we should be cognizant of the view presented by Stuart Hall (1991) that how people are represented is how they are treated. The article examines how the generalization reflected in ‘African dance’ has genealogy in the earlier racist European colonial homogenization of Africa, which Valentino Y. Mudimbe (1988) has termed as the ‘invention of Africa’. A critical examination is made on how using the label ‘African dance’ in the current anti-racist dance curricular projects compound racism that whitewashes a complex continent with multiplicity of cultures and dance practices into one single monolithic label. The article provokes critical reflection on the complexity of dance traditions in Africa and inspires a new thinking that looks at the different insidious facets of racism, which can easily be exacerbated by the very projects that seek to address social injustices, discrimination, and marginalization.