African Disporic Retention: Carnival

 

I
 
Unit: Iron Age
Theme: Carnival

Introduction

 The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term describes the process of dispersal and the dispersed ethnic population. The African Diaspora has been formed by the movements of Africans and their descendants.
 
 
II
 
Learning Objectives 

  • Understand carnival as an expression of African diasporic history
  • Explain the meaning of the terms circum-Atlantic memory and socio-cultural density
  • Gain an awareness of the meaning of  the society of the spectacle
  • Experience carnival dance choreography

 III

Main Lesson

 1

 

 


 Haiti 1977
 
Question 1
 
What is your impression of Haiti's carnival?
 
 
2

 

Bahia
 
Question 2
 
Why is Bahia's carnival important for Afro-Caribbean culture?

 --------------------
 
 
 3
 
 
 
 
New Orleans
 

 
https://youtu.be/8v4GM67KxhU
 
Question 3
 
Compare and contrast the experience of mardi grass between the people in the two videos above.
 
 
4
 

LINK
 
 
Question 4
 
What is circum-Atlantic memory? 
 
----------------------

Go to the link below; scrawl to page 306 and read below "Carnival at Last" all the way to page 307, first paragraph. 
 
 
5
 

LINK:

Questions 5

1. Acording to Benitez Rojo,  carnivals are above all "concentrations of paradoxical dynamics by virtue of which the world becomes a travestying mirror." Using the video and the reading, explain in one paragraph what you think Benitez Rojo meant.

3. What do you think about the concept of socio-cultural density posed by Benitez Rojo?

 

 

6

Rio Carnival / Brazil 2024




LINK

Society of the Spectacle by Guy Deborg

Question 6

According to Deborg, what makes the spectacular society vulnerable? 

 

IV

 A Note to Remember

 The African diaspora has left all over the continent traces of their religious, cultural and social practices. Carnival is one of the events that illustrate the impact that African cultures have had on Westernized culture since its insertion.

 

V

Case Study

Katherine Dunham


 Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006) was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. Born in 1909 during the turn of the century Victorian era in the small town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, she became one of the first dance anthropologists, started the first internationally-touring predominantly black dance company with its own codified dance technique, became one of Hollywood’s first African-American choreographers, and authored many scholarly books and journalistic articles on dance and in the Caribbean.   


 

Katherine Dunham On Dance Anthropology


VI

Activity


Students choose an Afro-diasporic carnival dance to study and turn into a movement phrase.

 

Brazil / Bahia

Trinidad-Tobago

Haiti

New Orleans

Cuba





VII

Journaling


VIII

Glossary


IX

Sources

 

Katherine Dunham. https://www.dunhamcertification.org/katherine-dunham-bio

Katherine Dunham on Her Influence on American Dance. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003839/


X

Students' Work



Students making up, record and post your phrase using the music in the video.


 

 

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