CFP: Dance and the Process of Indigenous Identification, SAM, Virtual, June 2021

[AMS]

Historical and ethnographic investigations of Indigenous cultures have long been a central facet of American music studies. In recent years scholars have begun to interrogate the colonist legacies of these endeavors, initiating what Jessica Bissett Perea and Gariel Solis describe as a “subtle shift” to intellectual frameworks written “with, by, and for” Indigenous Peoples. Examining the role of dance and movement in the complex and often contradictory processes of Indigenous identification can do much to challenge the myths of settler colonialism as well as call attention to the marginalization, and even absence, of the embodied knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in studies of American music. We seek panelists to discuss dance’s role in both the formation of local identity and the perpetuation of myth in appropriative and non-local performances of Indigeneity.

The Dance Interest Group of the Society for American Music invites proposals for 10-minute informal presentations to be delivered virtually via Zoom. We welcome topics including but not limited to:

o Critical studies on dance and movement and the process of Indigenous identification
o Choreography and Indigenous epistemological frameworks
o Historical and ethnographic approaches to Indigenous dance and movement
o Cultural and or popular representations of Indigenous dance
o Dance and movement as sites of colonial encounter
o The role of dance in strategies of resistance, revival, and sustainability
o Pedagogical approaches to local dance

The goal of our session will be to counter colonialist narratives that have defined Indigeneity, amplify Indigenous voices, and explore the density of Native American cultures. We seek 350-word abstracts, which may be submitted to co-chairs Natalia Perez and Nate Ruechel at nap3pq -at- virginia.edu no later than February 21st, 2021. 

For more information: https://rb.gy/hwe9p8