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Phd - Cultural geographies of African and Caribbean dance

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Dec 23, 2016

Job Details

Details

Research rationale
There is an established body of scholarship around African and Caribbean dance as a field of practice and performance. Anthropological work situates traditional African and Caribbean dance forms within a range of societies, customs and environments in Africa, the Caribbean as well as amongst Diaspora in the rest of the Americas, and in Europe. Dance Studies work situates African and Caribbean dance within aesthetic fields, often in the context of postcolonial debates around the body, the nation and the relative marginalisation of African-Caribbean dance forms in relation to more consistently funded dance forms (such as ballet and contemporary dance). Cultural geographers are beginning to look at dance in a number of ways: often within non-representational theory, with a focus on materiality and the performative; but also as a practice that might be more than representational, with an increasing focus on the discursive contexts of dance performance, both informal (e.g. in nightclubs and bars), and more formal (e.g. in theatre or street performance)
Project methodology
There will be great scope within this project for the student to mould the particular objectives and methodology, depending on the resources that s/he brings (for example a background as an African-Caribbean dance practitioner, or academic background in cultural geography, or in dance anthropology) and the specific focus that s/he brings in terms of field of study (e.g. performance or practice, in the UK, Caribbean, Africa or elsewhere). Certainly the project will be enhanced by attention to the African and/or Caribbean dancing body, as well as an awareness of the political, social and economic contexts in which it moves.
Requirements, training and opportunities
This project would suit a well-motivated and intellectually accomplished individual, who is willing to engage with cultural geography’s emphasis on the spatial patterning and forms of culture and cultural change. An interdisciplinary curiosity, and a flexibility of thought are highly desirable, whilst an understanding of, or at least an established familiarity with, African and Caribbean cultures is essential. You will have at least a 2.1 honours degree in a relevant discipline in order to receive an offer of a place, and preferably a first at degree level and a masters degree in order to compete for relevant funding. You will join Human Geography research group at Birmingham, and will be part of the Bodies, Lives, Materialities research cluster. The researcher will be supervised by Dr Pat Noxolo, whose work explores the ways in which diverse aspects of African-Caribbean culture are deployed as spatial resources, both in Africa and the Caribbean and in their various diaspora. As well as publishing widely on these themes, Pat Noxolo is well-networked within the Postcolonial Geography, Caribbean Studies, Cultural Geography, and Development Geography communities in the UK.

Funding Notes

UK and EU applicants may enter the competition for ESRC and / or AHRC scholarships at the University of Birmingham, depending on the specific research topic. A separate application is required for the funding competitions. Deadlines for these are available on the Midlands3Cities site (http://www.midlands3cities.ac.uk/midlands-3-cities/funding/funding.aspx ) and from the University of Birmingham ESRC DTC (http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/dr-fees/esrc/about.aspx ).

References

Noxolo, P. (2015) Moving Maps: African-Caribbean Dance as Embodied Mapping, in PocoPages Diasporas and Cultures of Mobilities, Vol 2 Diaspora, Memory and Intimacy, edited by Sarah Barbour, Thomas Lacroix, David Howard et Judith Misrahi-Barak, series PoCoPages, Coll. "Horizons anglophones" (Montpellier : Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée)
Stanley Niaah, S. (2010) Dancehall: from Slave Ship to Ghetto, University of Ottawa Press
Yartey, N. (2016) African Dance in Ghana: Contemporary Transformations, Mot Juste

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