Intercultural Dance Education in the Era of Neo-State Nationalism

Abstract

ABSTRACT As globalization endures onslaughts from neo-state nationalism, examining the role that dances from non-Western cultures play in facilitating intercultural education is necessary. This article critically examines the intercultural reflections and meanings that student performers constructed from learning and performing the movements, techniques, songs, histories, drum rhythms, and stories of Ugandan dances in the U.S. The findings revealed that the agency that student performers had in learning and reflecting on their multifaceted cultural identities and dance backgrounds facilitated their construction of intercultural meanings. The article explains the acculturative stresses that the student performers encountered in these processes and how these experiences deepened their intercultural learning. The article broadens discourses on how dance practitioners can meaningfully engage dances from African cultures as complex cultural and intellectual knowledge domains instead of conceptualizing them as exotic artifacts devoid of intricate intellectual manifestations.