The changing body in southern Africa

a perspective from ethnomusicology

Minette Mans

pp. 77-95

in: Liora Bresler (ed), Knowing bodies, moving minds, Berlin, Springer, 2004

Abstract

Societies in southern African countries are increasingly burdened by crime and poverty, the uneasy aftermath of colonialism and apartheid, and growing neocolonialism. In the recent past racism in its strongest form was consolidated in apartheid policies, but permeated local societies in many more subtle forms, such as the missionary introduction of a form of Christianity in which God was partial to the white race. As a result, people live in racialized spaces occupied by racialized subjects (Elder, n.d.), both being embodied in their art, dance and music. "Race lives in the house of music because music is so saturated with racial stuff..." (Radano & Bohlman, 2000, p. 1). Notions of race, self perception and perception of "other" are closely linked, and are inextricably tied to the value system of the perceiver. Changes in any one of these will affect the others.