''To us, life, with its rhythms and cycles is Dance.[…] Dance is a language, a mode of expression, which addresses itself to the mind, through the heart, using related, relevant and significant movements which have their basic counterparts in our everyday activities'' (Opoku, n. d.12)
Introduction My project is aimed to bring meaning to both the tangible and intangible heritage and also help detach the 'colonial gaze' from our indigenous dances and artefacts at the British Museum. According to Reider (2012:66) the colonial gaze defined the exoticism and legitimated treatment of the imperial other'. The main dance I will use in this project is the Agbekor dance from the Ewe people of South-Eastern part of Ghana also known as Volta Region. The dance form will be used to show the audience how most of the displayed artefacts are used in real life. Awuah (2016:26), confirms that, the 'use of the dance form in a museum can aid understanding of a photograph in an exhibition'. This project would create the opportunity for the Museum audience to participate, learn and understand the stories and history behind the Ghanaian heritage. One of the advantages of creating this event at the British museum is to preserve the Ghanaian culture internationally while maintaining the meanings associated with it and also to give the Ghanaians living in the diaspora a feel of home. This project would also allow the Museum audience to be more closer to the heritage by participating in the dance instead of just standing/sitting there to observe. Meaning there will be no barriers between the dancers and audience as they will be free to join in the performance which is being done outside its ritual context without any restrictions. As confirmed by Fabian (1996: 14-15), 'in the traditional setting, audience participation is a fundamental part of African dance. People who are in the audience one minute become a member of the dance the next, entering into the arena to join the dancers or show their appreciation by wiping the dancer's face then dancing together and embracing, or by fixing coins on the dancer's forehead, or raising the right arm with the third and forefinger stretched in a signal of approval'. |
Author
Mariama Hashiem is a current Master student in Dance Anthropology (Choreomundus) from Ghana. She acquired her Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre arts and Dance Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. Her main interests are in Traditional Dances from Ghana and some parts of Africa and her focus is on Representation, Cultural Migration and adaptation of Ghanaian dances in the Diaspora. |
Colonialism In Ghana
Colonialism according to the Stanford encyclopaedia (2017 ), ‘is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another’. Colonialism has affected Ghana in so many ways and one of such is our cultural heritage. During the around British colonial era 1821-1953 before Ghana gained independence, according to Nkrumah 1963, "We were denied the knowledge of our African past and informed that we had no present. What future could there be for us? We were taught to regard our culture and traditions as barbarous and primitive. Our text-books were English text-books, telling us about English history, English geography, English ways of living, English customs, English ideas, English weather. (...) (Nkrumah, 1963:49). Colonialism forced traditional dances in Ghana to become less attractive and less respected even as a discipline at the University. According to Kuwor (2013:194), 'the colonial legacy that considered Ghanaian music and dance as acts of paganism, heathenism and barbarism dominated the post-independence era of Ghana particularly in the last quarter of the twentieth century'. The notion was that people who study dance do not have a future as compared to those in other fields. Making our colleagues from other disciplines disregard and mock we the ones studying dance and the most common name they gave to the discipline is ’dondology’ which was derived from the word ‘dondo’ which is an hour glass shaped talking drum from Ghana. (see, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-205)
Colonialism according to the Stanford encyclopaedia (2017 ), ‘is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another’. Colonialism has affected Ghana in so many ways and one of such is our cultural heritage. During the around British colonial era 1821-1953 before Ghana gained independence, according to Nkrumah 1963, "We were denied the knowledge of our African past and informed that we had no present. What future could there be for us? We were taught to regard our culture and traditions as barbarous and primitive. Our text-books were English text-books, telling us about English history, English geography, English ways of living, English customs, English ideas, English weather. (...) (Nkrumah, 1963:49). Colonialism forced traditional dances in Ghana to become less attractive and less respected even as a discipline at the University. According to Kuwor (2013:194), 'the colonial legacy that considered Ghanaian music and dance as acts of paganism, heathenism and barbarism dominated the post-independence era of Ghana particularly in the last quarter of the twentieth century'. The notion was that people who study dance do not have a future as compared to those in other fields. Making our colleagues from other disciplines disregard and mock we the ones studying dance and the most common name they gave to the discipline is ’dondology’ which was derived from the word ‘dondo’ which is an hour glass shaped talking drum from Ghana. (see, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-205)
Connection with the British Museum
There are many Ghanaian artefacts displayed in the museum collections which have hidden history or stories that the ‘foreign’ eye might not be able to see by just looking at unless someone who actually belong to the country. Edensor notes that ‘heritage and museum spaces seamlessly banish ambiguity and the multiplicity of the past’ (2005:830), and this limits the narratives around artefacts and objects. Through the dance, the significance of the Ghanaian artefacts displayed at the British museum would be shown to the audience . According to Awuah (2016:23), through a re-interpretation by means of dance, audiences can better understand the object’s significance and its function in a society or period of history'. They might just see it as a souvenir from Ghana without actually knowing they are looking at a story behind Ghana’s independence. 'The souvenir’s narrative content, refers to the level of the public's broad reception of the artefact, demonstrated through its mode of display’ Hume (2014:132).
There are many Ghanaian artefacts displayed in the museum collections which have hidden history or stories that the ‘foreign’ eye might not be able to see by just looking at unless someone who actually belong to the country. Edensor notes that ‘heritage and museum spaces seamlessly banish ambiguity and the multiplicity of the past’ (2005:830), and this limits the narratives around artefacts and objects. Through the dance, the significance of the Ghanaian artefacts displayed at the British museum would be shown to the audience . According to Awuah (2016:23), through a re-interpretation by means of dance, audiences can better understand the object’s significance and its function in a society or period of history'. They might just see it as a souvenir from Ghana without actually knowing they are looking at a story behind Ghana’s independence. 'The souvenir’s narrative content, refers to the level of the public's broad reception of the artefact, demonstrated through its mode of display’ Hume (2014:132).
For example, while I was examining the collections displayed on the British Museum website, I saw a Ghanaian currency poster displayed, collected by a research assistant at the coins and medals department as a souvenir, and the only description given was ‘printed poster of the Bank of Ghana with information about the 'Re-denomination of the Cedi'; It features illustrations of 1 cedi and 5 cedis banknotes and highlights details of their security patterns'. A person viewing this artefact might merely interpret it as an example of a legal tender for Ghana, however to a Ghanaians like myself our heritage is similarly exposed. On the obverse of all of the displayed currencies, is a picture of 6 men and they are the ‘famous big six’ in history of Ghana, those who worked towards Ghana’s independence. On the other side of the currency, some bear the independence arch, which is a part of the independence square where Dr Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana’s independence from the British on the 6th of March 1957, the University of Ghana Balme library. The Christiansburg castle, Kwame Nkrumah Vessel, Bank of Ghana and Supreme court. All of these images displayed on the currencies contain very important history of our heritage. As Clifford (1988: 220) has shown, these acts of collection, selection and classification obscure the original context of the object in question (be it a piece of art or, as in our case, a dance) and create a space in which "the making of meaning... is mystified as adequate representation"
The Agbekor Dance
Agbekor dance originated from the Volta region of Ghana among the Ewe people during the 16th century. Before the colonial era, the dance was a warrior dance which was used after war however, after this era, the colonial era shifted cultural understanding to establish an understanding that the ‘old’ dances were not good for society, and also primitive. The dance thus changed to suit contexts in which they are performed in for instance during funerals, festivals etc. had to be adjusted to the new performance practice. Schramm (2000:345) confirms that 'active community participation and improvisation were central features of the dance, it now had to be choreographed so as to suit new, mainly urban, audiences in a stage situation'. The origins of the dance uses movements which mimic physicalities of a body in battle or war: using tactics such stabbing with the end of the horsetail. (see, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lLD7aKFls).
Agbekor dance originated from the Volta region of Ghana among the Ewe people during the 16th century. Before the colonial era, the dance was a warrior dance which was used after war however, after this era, the colonial era shifted cultural understanding to establish an understanding that the ‘old’ dances were not good for society, and also primitive. The dance thus changed to suit contexts in which they are performed in for instance during funerals, festivals etc. had to be adjusted to the new performance practice. Schramm (2000:345) confirms that 'active community participation and improvisation were central features of the dance, it now had to be choreographed so as to suit new, mainly urban, audiences in a stage situation'. The origins of the dance uses movements which mimic physicalities of a body in battle or war: using tactics such stabbing with the end of the horsetail. (see, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lLD7aKFls).
Project Plan
This project would feature sections of the different dances and it would be framed by a schedule with specific times during the day for each of the dances in this project to be showed. This will allow the audience who come at different times to have the opportunity join and experience the performance.
Posters and flyers will be created and also pre-recorded announcements of these specific times will played once a while to remind the audience about the start times and venue of the event. The space for my show will be at the Atrium of the Museum which is open and big enough for a large number of people. The Agbekor drum ensemble consist of 5 drums, 1 gourd rattle and a two-tone iron bell which means there will be 7 drummers/musicans for the performance. The musicians/ drummers with their various drums and instruments will be stationed at one spot and then the space in front of them will be the dance arena while the audience will spread around this setting in order to have a good view and participate in the activities going on. This structure will be used to first perform the dance for the audience to be able to watch how the dance is supposed to be, and then I will now invite them to spread around as I take them through the movements of the dance slowly. Awuah (2016:29) pines that 'regardless of the chosen style of presentation, the dance forms must contain traces or remnants of the tradition they come from in order to appease and appeal to the sensibilities of both ‘personal’ and ‘impersonal’ museum audiences'. I will be using some of the displayed Ghanaian collections at the museum as props (the fly-whisk) and then use this opportunity to explain to the audience the different type of props, costumes, history and the stories the songs are telling etc. Moreover, some of the props and costumes which are not already in the museum collection could be added to make it easy for the public to relate it to the dance and the history. Afterwards, we would have an interactive section where the audience would be given the opportunity to ask questions.
This project would feature sections of the different dances and it would be framed by a schedule with specific times during the day for each of the dances in this project to be showed. This will allow the audience who come at different times to have the opportunity join and experience the performance.
Posters and flyers will be created and also pre-recorded announcements of these specific times will played once a while to remind the audience about the start times and venue of the event. The space for my show will be at the Atrium of the Museum which is open and big enough for a large number of people. The Agbekor drum ensemble consist of 5 drums, 1 gourd rattle and a two-tone iron bell which means there will be 7 drummers/musicans for the performance. The musicians/ drummers with their various drums and instruments will be stationed at one spot and then the space in front of them will be the dance arena while the audience will spread around this setting in order to have a good view and participate in the activities going on. This structure will be used to first perform the dance for the audience to be able to watch how the dance is supposed to be, and then I will now invite them to spread around as I take them through the movements of the dance slowly. Awuah (2016:29) pines that 'regardless of the chosen style of presentation, the dance forms must contain traces or remnants of the tradition they come from in order to appease and appeal to the sensibilities of both ‘personal’ and ‘impersonal’ museum audiences'. I will be using some of the displayed Ghanaian collections at the museum as props (the fly-whisk) and then use this opportunity to explain to the audience the different type of props, costumes, history and the stories the songs are telling etc. Moreover, some of the props and costumes which are not already in the museum collection could be added to make it easy for the public to relate it to the dance and the history. Afterwards, we would have an interactive section where the audience would be given the opportunity to ask questions.
Available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_from_NE.JPG Accessed on 10 May, 2020
Why the British Museum?
I chose the British museum because Ghana was colonised by the British and this museum has some contents of Ghanaian origin which are placed there without any significant explanation about what they actually represent to the people of Ghana. Objects in museums are not without problematic relationships as Claessen and Howes state when discussing that museum artefacts become objects are ‘colonised by the gaze’ (2006: 200), and effected by what Stewart ‘empires of sight’ (1999: 17). I chose an open space at the museum to present my dance because this space will impact the presentation of my choreographic work. Thus, by placing the dance in this space and engaging the audience, the ‘colonial gaze’ could be detached and some sort of reality and closeness of the dance could be given to the audience.
The British Museum has had live performances of a few African dances for example a dance from Sierra Leon was performed at the British Museum in 2013 (see video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7H8rRZhL8). This performance featured the dancers performing in the middle while the audience watched from the sides of the circle. However, there has not been a Ghanaian dance performance at the Museum and so this project could be the first and the aim is not to only perform or show the dance for the audience to watch but to allow the audience to participate and experience it. The target audience are museum goers consisting of people from diverse backgrounds and all ages.
I chose the British museum because Ghana was colonised by the British and this museum has some contents of Ghanaian origin which are placed there without any significant explanation about what they actually represent to the people of Ghana. Objects in museums are not without problematic relationships as Claessen and Howes state when discussing that museum artefacts become objects are ‘colonised by the gaze’ (2006: 200), and effected by what Stewart ‘empires of sight’ (1999: 17). I chose an open space at the museum to present my dance because this space will impact the presentation of my choreographic work. Thus, by placing the dance in this space and engaging the audience, the ‘colonial gaze’ could be detached and some sort of reality and closeness of the dance could be given to the audience.
The British Museum has had live performances of a few African dances for example a dance from Sierra Leon was performed at the British Museum in 2013 (see video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7H8rRZhL8). This performance featured the dancers performing in the middle while the audience watched from the sides of the circle. However, there has not been a Ghanaian dance performance at the Museum and so this project could be the first and the aim is not to only perform or show the dance for the audience to watch but to allow the audience to participate and experience it. The target audience are museum goers consisting of people from diverse backgrounds and all ages.
Bibliography
Nrumah, K. (1963). Africa must unite. London, Heinemann.
Schramm, K. (2000). The Politics of Dance: Changing Representations of the Nation in Ghana. Africa Spectrum, 35(3), 339-358.
Hume, D. L. (2014). Tourism Art and Souvenirs: The Material Culture of Tourism. London; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Opoku Albert M. (N.D): The African Dance. In the Ghana Dance Ensemble pp 12-16 n.p
Clifford, James (1988): On Collecting Art and Culture the Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography. Literature, and Art: pp. 215-251. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press
Kwashie Kuwor, Sylvanus(2013) Transmission of Anlo-Ewe Dances in Ghana and in Britain: Investigating, Reconstructing and Disseminating Knowledge Embodied in the Music and Dance Traditions of Anlo-Ewe People in Ghana. PHD Thesis.
Claessen, Constance and David Howes (2006) ‘The museum as Sensescape: Western sensibilities and indigenous Artefacts’, in Sensible Objects: Colonialism, Museums and Material Culture, edited by Edwards, Gosden, and Philips, Berg, Oxford: 199–222.
Stewart, Susan 1999) ‘Prologue: from the museum of touch’, in Material Memories, Design and Evocation, edited by Kwint, Brewer, and Ainsley, Berg, Oxford: 17–36.
Rieder, J. (2012). Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Fabian, Krista N. (1996). “Professional Dance in Ghanaian Society: The Development and Direction of the Ghana Dance Ensemble.” Ph.D. diss., University of Ghana.
Awuah, E. (2016) Negotiating the narrative themes of traditional Ghanaian dance forms within the museum context. Mōtiō: Postgraduate Journal for Dance Practice and Research, 2, pp.23–33. Available at: www.motiojournal.org
Kohn, Margaret and Reddy, Kavita, "Colonialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) (Accessed: 2 May 2020)
The British Museum African collection: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-67 (Accessed: 24 April, 2020)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2009-4177-1 (Accessed: 24 April, 2020)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-205 (Accessed: 10 May, 2020)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_from_NE.JPG Accessed on 10 May, 2020
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/cabinet-gov/harold-macmillan-1957.htm (Accessed: 25 April 2020)
Agbekor Dance Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lLD7aKFls (Posted by Linda SummerSun title: Atsiagbekor dance in Dzogadze, Ghana 15 Oct 2011) Accessed on 24 April, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shF23Jm6Ixo
(Posted by Linda SummerSun title: Atsiagbekor dance in Dzogadze, Ghana 15 Oct, 2011) Accessed on 24 April, 2020
Nrumah, K. (1963). Africa must unite. London, Heinemann.
Schramm, K. (2000). The Politics of Dance: Changing Representations of the Nation in Ghana. Africa Spectrum, 35(3), 339-358.
Hume, D. L. (2014). Tourism Art and Souvenirs: The Material Culture of Tourism. London; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Opoku Albert M. (N.D): The African Dance. In the Ghana Dance Ensemble pp 12-16 n.p
Clifford, James (1988): On Collecting Art and Culture the Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography. Literature, and Art: pp. 215-251. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press
Kwashie Kuwor, Sylvanus(2013) Transmission of Anlo-Ewe Dances in Ghana and in Britain: Investigating, Reconstructing and Disseminating Knowledge Embodied in the Music and Dance Traditions of Anlo-Ewe People in Ghana. PHD Thesis.
Claessen, Constance and David Howes (2006) ‘The museum as Sensescape: Western sensibilities and indigenous Artefacts’, in Sensible Objects: Colonialism, Museums and Material Culture, edited by Edwards, Gosden, and Philips, Berg, Oxford: 199–222.
Stewart, Susan 1999) ‘Prologue: from the museum of touch’, in Material Memories, Design and Evocation, edited by Kwint, Brewer, and Ainsley, Berg, Oxford: 17–36.
Rieder, J. (2012). Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Fabian, Krista N. (1996). “Professional Dance in Ghanaian Society: The Development and Direction of the Ghana Dance Ensemble.” Ph.D. diss., University of Ghana.
Awuah, E. (2016) Negotiating the narrative themes of traditional Ghanaian dance forms within the museum context. Mōtiō: Postgraduate Journal for Dance Practice and Research, 2, pp.23–33. Available at: www.motiojournal.org
Kohn, Margaret and Reddy, Kavita, "Colonialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) (Accessed: 2 May 2020)
The British Museum African collection: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-67 (Accessed: 24 April, 2020)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2009-4177-1 (Accessed: 24 April, 2020)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1978-22-205 (Accessed: 10 May, 2020)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_from_NE.JPG Accessed on 10 May, 2020
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/cabinet-gov/harold-macmillan-1957.htm (Accessed: 25 April 2020)
Agbekor Dance Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lLD7aKFls (Posted by Linda SummerSun title: Atsiagbekor dance in Dzogadze, Ghana 15 Oct 2011) Accessed on 24 April, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shF23Jm6Ixo
(Posted by Linda SummerSun title: Atsiagbekor dance in Dzogadze, Ghana 15 Oct, 2011) Accessed on 24 April, 2020