An Auto-Ethnography of Engagement Through Dance
Abstract
This paper proposes a reflection on collaboration through dance. Drawing on ten years of fieldwork within the Swiss contemporary dance scene, the author, an anthropologist, dance scholar, and dancer, discusses her ethnographic practice, method, and writing inspired by collaborative anthropology. The first part of the paper advocates for dance as a practice-based research method, and for auto-ethnography to convey anthropological knowledge in a more accessible way. Research-creation is claimed to particularly suit sensorial topics, tending toward symmetrical relationships between anthropologists and fieldwork interlocutors. Drawing on an applied anthropological project using djembe dances for better social cohesion, the second part of the paper shows one possible engagement with society through dance practice. Generating intimacy and misconceptions, the project Kunda emphasizes how dance can become a laboratory to learn and negotiate intercultural differences.
References
Aterianus-Owanga, Alice. 2019. “‘Sabar, sama thiosanou’ (sabar, ma tradition). Frontières et propriété culturelles dans la transmission des danses sénégalaises en Europe.” Revue européenne des migrations internationales 3, no. 35: 153–174. https://doi.org/10.4000/remi.13737
AVDC, Association vaudoise de danse contemporaine. 2016. Créer. La danse contemporaine vaudoise sous le regard des chorégraphes, Rapport d’enquête mené par Sorignet Pierre-Emmanuel et Vionnet Claire. Genève: A.Type éditions.
Buckland, Theresa Jill. 2010. “Shifting Perspectives on Dance Ethnography.” In The dance studies reader, edited by Alexandra Carter and Janet O’Shea, 335–343. London: Routledge.
Cervulle, Maxime. 2017. “Exposer le racisme. Exhibit B et le public oppositionnel.” Rapports sociaux et hégémonie. Conflictualités dans les espaces publics 48, no. 2: 37–54. https://doi.org/10.4000/edc.6775
Chapman, Owen, and Kim Sawchuk. 2012. “Research-creation: Intervention, Analysis and ‘Family Resemblances’.” Canadian Journal of Communication 37: 5–26. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2012v37n1a2489
Chrétien, Jean-Pierre. 2007. “Le discours de Dakar. Le poids idéologique d’un ‘africanisme’ traditionnel,” Esprit, no. 11: 163–181.
Clifford, James. 1988. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Conrad, Diane. 2009. “Exploring Risky Youth Experiences. Popular Theatre as a Participatory, Performative Research Method.” In Method Meets Art. Arts-based research practice, edited by Patricia Leavy, 162–178. New York/London: The Guilford Press.
Cooper Albright, Ann. 1997. Choreographing Difference. The Body and Identity in Contemporary Dance. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Cukierman, Leïla, Gerty Dambury, and Françoise Vergès, eds. 2018. Décolonisons les arts! Paris: L’Arche.
Decker, Todd. 2012. Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Décoret-Ahiha, Anne. 2004. Les danses exotiques en France 1880–1940. Pantin: Centre national de la danse.
Despres, Altaïr. 2016. Se faire contemporain. Les danseurs africains à l’épreuve de la mondialisation culturelle. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne.
Dwyer, Kevin. 1982. Moroccan Aialogues. Anthropology in Question. Baltimore/London: The John Hopkins University Press.
Enwezor, Okwui. 2012. Intense proximité. Une anthologie du proche et du lointain. Paris: Palais de Tokyo.
Epstein, Mikhail. 2012. The Transformative Humanities. A Manifesto. New York/London: Bloomsbury.
Fauley Emery, Lynne. 1972. Black Dance. In the United States from 1619 to 1970. Palo Alto: National Press Books.
Guisgand, Philippe, and Gretchen Schiller. 2017. Recherches en danse. La place des pratiques dans la recherche en danse, no.6. https://doi.org/10.4000/danse.1651
Hartigan, John. 2020. “Establishing the Fact of Whiteness,” American Anthropologist. Race, Racism, and White Supremacy. Virtual issue: 495–502. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1997.99.3.495
Ingold, Tim. 2013. Making. Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London: Routledge.
Jackson, Michael. 2012. Between One and One Another. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
Lancaster, Roger N. 2011. “Autoethnography. When I was a Girl (Notes on Contrivance).” In A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment, edited by Frances E. Mascia-Lees, 46–71. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lassibille, Mahalia. 2004. “La danse africaine, une catégorie à déconstruire. Une étude des danses des WoDaaBe du Niger.” Cahiers d’études africaines XLIV 3, no. 175: 681–690.
Lassiter, Luke Eric. 2005. The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.
Leavy, Patricia. 2009. Method Meets Art. Arts-based Research Practice. New York/London: The Guilford Press.
Liepsch, Elisa, Julian Warner, und Matthias Pees. 2018. Allianzen. Kritische Praxis an weissen Institutionen. Bielefeld: transcript.
Mandell, Jonathan. 2019. “Blackface on Stage: The Complicated History of Minstrel Shows.” Magazine New York Theater, February 7 (online). https://newyorktheater.me/2019/02/07/blackface-on-stage-the-complicated-history-of-minstrel-shows/
Manning, Susan. 2019. “Race in Motion: Modern Dance, Negro Dance, and Katherine Dunham.” In The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, edited by Jens R. Giersdord, and Yutian Wong, 234–245. London/New York: Routledge.
Marcus, George E. 2013. “Experimental Forms for the Expression of Norms in the Ethnography of the Contemporary.” Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3, no. 2: 197–217. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau3.2.011
Moroni, Isabelle. 2019. “Renforcer la participation culturelle. Un nouveau défi démocratique”, in Kulturelle Teilhabe. Ein Manuel/Participation culturelle. Un manuel, edited by Stefan Koslowski (Bundesamt für Kultur), 34–39. Zürich: Seismo Verlag.
Nancy, Jean-Luc. 1996. Être singulier pluriel. Paris: Galilée.
Schneider, Arnd, and Christopher Wright. 2013. Anthropology and Art Practice. London: Bloomsbury.
Sjöberg, Johannes. 2008. “Ethnofiction: Drama as a Creative Research Practice in Ethnographic Film.” Journal of Media Practice 9, no. 3: 229–242. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.9.3.229_1 Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1988. “Can Subaltern Speak?” In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson, and Lawrence Grossberg, 271–313. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Swanson, Amy. 2019. “Ambiguous Masculinities: Gender and Sexual Transgression in Contemporary Dance Works by Senegalese Men,” Dance Research Journal 51, no. 3: 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0149767719000317
Tiérou, Alphonse. 2001. Si sa danse bouge, l’Afrique bougera. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose.
Vionnet, Claire. 2021. “Les corps d’ailleurs en danse contemporaine : une inclusion par le stigmate”, Recherches Féministes : Esthétique et politiques du corps,vol. 34, no 1: 141–159.
Vionnet, Claire. 2021. “The Birth of Gesture. ‘I’m not dancing alone’.” Body, Space & Technology 20, no. 1: 83–96. https://doi.org/10.16995/bst.350
Vionnet, Claire. 2018. L’ombre du geste : le(s) sens de l’expérience en danse contemporaine, thèse de doctorat, Université de Lausanne. https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_EAF916BD2E29.P001/REF
Vionnet, Claire, and Tim Ingold. 2018. “From Experience to Language: Towards an Affected and Affective Writing. A Conversation with Tim Ingold.” Tsantsa – Journal of the Swiss Anthropological Association 23: 82–90. https://doi.org/10.36950/tsantsa.2018.18.7299
Vionnet, Claire, and Christelle Becholey Besson. 2020. “Shadows Between Worlds.” Liminalities. A Journal of Performance Studies 16, no. 3. http://liminalities.net/16-3/shadows.html
Viora, Angela, Al Evangelista, Sonia York-Pryce, Claire Vionnet, André Dramé,. Donnie Scally, and Alen Agaronov. 2021. “Six Illuminated Videos.” Journal of Embodied Research 4, no. 2: 31–25. https://doi.org/10.16995/jer.91
AVDC, Association vaudoise de danse contemporaine. 2016. Créer. La danse contemporaine vaudoise sous le regard des chorégraphes, Rapport d’enquête mené par Sorignet Pierre-Emmanuel et Vionnet Claire. Genève: A.Type éditions.
Buckland, Theresa Jill. 2010. “Shifting Perspectives on Dance Ethnography.” In The dance studies reader, edited by Alexandra Carter and Janet O’Shea, 335–343. London: Routledge.
Cervulle, Maxime. 2017. “Exposer le racisme. Exhibit B et le public oppositionnel.” Rapports sociaux et hégémonie. Conflictualités dans les espaces publics 48, no. 2: 37–54. https://doi.org/10.4000/edc.6775
Chapman, Owen, and Kim Sawchuk. 2012. “Research-creation: Intervention, Analysis and ‘Family Resemblances’.” Canadian Journal of Communication 37: 5–26. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2012v37n1a2489
Chrétien, Jean-Pierre. 2007. “Le discours de Dakar. Le poids idéologique d’un ‘africanisme’ traditionnel,” Esprit, no. 11: 163–181.
Clifford, James. 1988. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Conrad, Diane. 2009. “Exploring Risky Youth Experiences. Popular Theatre as a Participatory, Performative Research Method.” In Method Meets Art. Arts-based research practice, edited by Patricia Leavy, 162–178. New York/London: The Guilford Press.
Cooper Albright, Ann. 1997. Choreographing Difference. The Body and Identity in Contemporary Dance. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Cukierman, Leïla, Gerty Dambury, and Françoise Vergès, eds. 2018. Décolonisons les arts! Paris: L’Arche.
Decker, Todd. 2012. Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Décoret-Ahiha, Anne. 2004. Les danses exotiques en France 1880–1940. Pantin: Centre national de la danse.
Despres, Altaïr. 2016. Se faire contemporain. Les danseurs africains à l’épreuve de la mondialisation culturelle. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne.
Dwyer, Kevin. 1982. Moroccan Aialogues. Anthropology in Question. Baltimore/London: The John Hopkins University Press.
Enwezor, Okwui. 2012. Intense proximité. Une anthologie du proche et du lointain. Paris: Palais de Tokyo.
Epstein, Mikhail. 2012. The Transformative Humanities. A Manifesto. New York/London: Bloomsbury.
Fauley Emery, Lynne. 1972. Black Dance. In the United States from 1619 to 1970. Palo Alto: National Press Books.
Guisgand, Philippe, and Gretchen Schiller. 2017. Recherches en danse. La place des pratiques dans la recherche en danse, no.6. https://doi.org/10.4000/danse.1651
Hartigan, John. 2020. “Establishing the Fact of Whiteness,” American Anthropologist. Race, Racism, and White Supremacy. Virtual issue: 495–502. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1997.99.3.495
Ingold, Tim. 2013. Making. Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London: Routledge.
Jackson, Michael. 2012. Between One and One Another. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
Lancaster, Roger N. 2011. “Autoethnography. When I was a Girl (Notes on Contrivance).” In A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment, edited by Frances E. Mascia-Lees, 46–71. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lassibille, Mahalia. 2004. “La danse africaine, une catégorie à déconstruire. Une étude des danses des WoDaaBe du Niger.” Cahiers d’études africaines XLIV 3, no. 175: 681–690.
Lassiter, Luke Eric. 2005. The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.
Leavy, Patricia. 2009. Method Meets Art. Arts-based Research Practice. New York/London: The Guilford Press.
Liepsch, Elisa, Julian Warner, und Matthias Pees. 2018. Allianzen. Kritische Praxis an weissen Institutionen. Bielefeld: transcript.
Mandell, Jonathan. 2019. “Blackface on Stage: The Complicated History of Minstrel Shows.” Magazine New York Theater, February 7 (online). https://newyorktheater.me/2019/02/07/blackface-on-stage-the-complicated-history-of-minstrel-shows/
Manning, Susan. 2019. “Race in Motion: Modern Dance, Negro Dance, and Katherine Dunham.” In The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, edited by Jens R. Giersdord, and Yutian Wong, 234–245. London/New York: Routledge.
Marcus, George E. 2013. “Experimental Forms for the Expression of Norms in the Ethnography of the Contemporary.” Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3, no. 2: 197–217. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau3.2.011
Moroni, Isabelle. 2019. “Renforcer la participation culturelle. Un nouveau défi démocratique”, in Kulturelle Teilhabe. Ein Manuel/Participation culturelle. Un manuel, edited by Stefan Koslowski (Bundesamt für Kultur), 34–39. Zürich: Seismo Verlag.
Nancy, Jean-Luc. 1996. Être singulier pluriel. Paris: Galilée.
Schneider, Arnd, and Christopher Wright. 2013. Anthropology and Art Practice. London: Bloomsbury.
Sjöberg, Johannes. 2008. “Ethnofiction: Drama as a Creative Research Practice in Ethnographic Film.” Journal of Media Practice 9, no. 3: 229–242. https://doi.org/10.1386/jmpr.9.3.229_1 Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1988. “Can Subaltern Speak?” In Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson, and Lawrence Grossberg, 271–313. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Swanson, Amy. 2019. “Ambiguous Masculinities: Gender and Sexual Transgression in Contemporary Dance Works by Senegalese Men,” Dance Research Journal 51, no. 3: 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0149767719000317
Tiérou, Alphonse. 2001. Si sa danse bouge, l’Afrique bougera. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose.
Vionnet, Claire. 2021. “Les corps d’ailleurs en danse contemporaine : une inclusion par le stigmate”, Recherches Féministes : Esthétique et politiques du corps,vol. 34, no 1: 141–159.
Vionnet, Claire. 2021. “The Birth of Gesture. ‘I’m not dancing alone’.” Body, Space & Technology 20, no. 1: 83–96. https://doi.org/10.16995/bst.350
Vionnet, Claire. 2018. L’ombre du geste : le(s) sens de l’expérience en danse contemporaine, thèse de doctorat, Université de Lausanne. https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_EAF916BD2E29.P001/REF
Vionnet, Claire, and Tim Ingold. 2018. “From Experience to Language: Towards an Affected and Affective Writing. A Conversation with Tim Ingold.” Tsantsa – Journal of the Swiss Anthropological Association 23: 82–90. https://doi.org/10.36950/tsantsa.2018.18.7299
Vionnet, Claire, and Christelle Becholey Besson. 2020. “Shadows Between Worlds.” Liminalities. A Journal of Performance Studies 16, no. 3. http://liminalities.net/16-3/shadows.html
Viora, Angela, Al Evangelista, Sonia York-Pryce, Claire Vionnet, André Dramé,. Donnie Scally, and Alen Agaronov. 2021. “Six Illuminated Videos.” Journal of Embodied Research 4, no. 2: 31–25. https://doi.org/10.16995/jer.91
Published
2022-04-05
How to Cite
Vionnet, Claire. 2022. “An Auto-Ethnography of Engagement Through Dance”. Swiss Journal of Sociocultural Anthropology 27 (April):78-93. https://doi.org/10.36950/tsantsa.2022.27.7770.
Section
Special Issue
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
