Encountering Disability and Citizenship through Contemporary Dance in Africa

This book offers a compelling intersectional exploration of how disability is understood in relation to citizenship and global critical disability studies across diverse African cultures. It delves into the transformative power of integrated dance as a medium to challenge and reshape dominant social attitudes toward disability. Through detailed case studies of Dance into Space (Kenya), FLATFOOT and FLATFOOT Downie Dance Companies, Unmute Dance Company (South Africa) and Ugandan choreographer Joseph Tebandeke, the authors examine how contemporary dance can foster inclusive citizenship. Drawing on Foucauldian theory, the book highlights how 'small moments' in everyday life may be explored through dance in ways that shift paradigms and redefine ability and belonging. It also analyses the role of networks and festivals in expanding integrated dance that impacts public perception of disability both within Africa and globally. This book will resonate with students and scholars in theatre studies, disability studies, African studies and critical Black studies, as well as anyone interested in performance as a tool for social change.

Yvette Hutchison is Professor in Theatre and Performance Studies, School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, University of Warwick, UK. Lliane Loots is Lecturer in the Drama and Performance Studies Programme (HCC), School of the Arts, College of Humanities - University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Acknowledgements and Thanks Integrity statement Funding Acknowledgement PART I - Framing disability and citizenship through contemporary dance in Africa Chapter 1: A conceptual mapping of the terrain: Disability and citizenship Chapter 2: Arts and integrated dance: The importance of representation and productive risk PART II: African integrated dancers' voices and practices Chapter 3: Ethiopian integrated dance - Tracing the story (Yvette Hutchison with Jessie Brett) Chapter 4: Joseph Tebandeke (Uganda) - Engaging everyday activisms, notions of community and rethinking the 'body beautiful' in dance (Lliane Loots) Chapter 5: Ondiege Matthew and Dance Into Space (Kenya) - a three-tiered process of training, working and generating performances across literal and metaphysical spaces (Lliane Loots) Chapter 6: Unmute Dance Company (South Africa) - an intersectional approach to aesthetics, risk and the concept of Deaf gain (Yvette Hutchison) Chapter 7: Lliane Loots and FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY (South Africa) - evolving dance as a tool to facilitate a 'living democracy' (Yvette Hutchison) PART III: Facilitating encounters between practitioners and diverse publics Chapter 8: The role of festivals in facilitating encounters with (and through) integrated dance Chapter 9: The role of networks in facilitating encounters between practitioners working towards a shared intersectional activism Index