Full Description
In Dust of the Zulu Louise Meintjes traces the political and aesthetic significance of ngoma, a competitive form of dance and music that emerged out of the legacies of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa. Contextualizing ngoma within South Africa's history of violence, migrant labor, the HIV epidemic, and the world music market, Meintjes follows a community ngoma team and its professional subgroup during the twenty years after apartheid's end. She intricately ties aesthetics to politics, embodiment to the voice, and masculine anger to eloquence and virtuosity, relating the visceral experience of ngoma performances as they embody the expanse of South African history. Meintjes also shows how ngoma helps build community, cultivate responsible manhood, and provide its participants with a means to reconcile South Africa's past with its postapartheid future. Dust of the Zulu includes over one hundred photographs of ngoma performances, the majority taken by award-winning photojournalist TJ Lemon.
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. The Politics of Participation in Ngoma Song and Dance 1
1. Turning to Be Kissed: Praise, Flirtation, and the Work of Men 28
2. The Unwavering Voice: Affect, Eloquence, and the Moral Anger of Men 62
3. Feet of the Centipede: Military Aesthetics and the Politics of Reconciliation 94
4. To Quell the Dancer's Dust: Singing Violence during South Africa's Transition 124
5. The Crossing: World Music and Ngoma at Home 151
6. Dancing Around Disease: Silence, Ambiguity, and Brotherhood 182
7. The Digital Homestead: Having a Voice and the Sound of Marginalization 210
8. Brokering the Body: Culture, Heritage, and the Pleasure of Participation 240
Closing. Ngoma's Masculinity, South Africa's Struggle 266
Notes 273
References 307
Index 329
