Paper short abstract:

This paper explores Katherine Dunham's use of dance as ethnographic practice in the Caribbean. The role of dance in Dunham's ethnography will be analysed according to Fabian's suggestion on theatricality (and, in this case, dance performance) as both a mode and a source of (embodied) knowledge.

Paper long abstract:

My paper tries to explore the role of dance in Katherine Dunham's ethnography in the Caribbean, focusing on the fieldwork she conducted in Jamaica and Haiti. Dunham, an African-American dancer and anthropologist, carried out her research in 1936 after completing her training in anthropology under the guidance of Franz Boas and Melville J. Herskovits. Using Johannes Fabian's work on theatre and anthropology, I will question Dunham's use of dance as both a source and mode of embodied knowledge in fieldwork, a way of sharing time and exchanging information within the communities she studied. The role of the (black, female) ethnographer's body will be analysed as a locus of possible continuities/discontinuities between American and African identities, and a place of intersection for power relations between the United States and the Caribbean. The role of dance and performance in such critical junctures will be looked at as both a mode of conducting ethnography and a subject of anthropological interest. In this latter case, the different meaning ascribed to dance (e.g. ritual Hoodoo dances in Haiti) will be taken into consideration as an important example of the performative character of cultural knowledge according to Fabian's analysis of timing and shared time in communicative events.