'The clave comes home': salsa dance and pan-African identity in Ghana

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Periodical article

Title:	'The clave comes home': salsa dance and pan-African identity in Ghana
Author:	Carwile, Christey
Year:	2017
Periodical:	African Studies Review (ISSN 1555-2462)
Volume:	60
Issue:	2
Pages:	183-207
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	dance African identity globalization culture contact
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2017.6
Abstract:	While salsa dance is popularly, and now globally, understood to be a symbol and expression of Latin identity, its adoption in non-Latin contexts has produced new meanings and cultural configurations. This is particularly the case in West Africa, where salsa is not only catching on among urban youth, but is becoming understood and approached from an African perspective. This article explores the ways in which salsa dance in Ghana serves as an innovative, embodied expression of a contemporary, pan-African identity. This is seen in Ghanaian dancers' ideological reinvigoration of salsa's African history and in the physical incorporation of local styles and presentations. Salsa in Ghana is recast through global networks, which in turn contributes to its global character while refashioning it to better suit local motives and desires. Thus, rather than emphasizing salsa's African roots alone, dancers in Ghana equally engage with the complex routes of the dance. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]