Dancing Spirit, Love, and War: Performing the Translocal Realities of Contemporary Fiji

ISBN: 9780299322045 (0299322041)
Edition Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Pages: 256
Date Published: 30th Jun 2022
Series: Studies in Dance History

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List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgments viii
Note on Orthography xii
Introduction: Fijian by Decree
1 Meke in a Changing Imperial World
2 Governing Meke: Choreographing Pasts, Expressing Futures
3 Meke in Multicultural Canada
4 Spiriting Meke: Generating Stability, Tension, and Transformation
5 Generating Efficacy: Countervailing Rhythms of a Contemporary Meke
6 Performing Indeterminacy: Performance of Mekhe ni Loloma
Glossary 185
Notes 187
Bibliography 219
Index

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Meke, a traditional rhythmic dance accompanied by singing, signifies an important piece of identity for Fijians. Despite its complicated history of colonialism, racism, censorship, and religious conflict, meke remained a vital part of artistic expression and culture. Evadne Kelly performs close readings of the dance in relation to an evolving landscape, following the postcolonial reclamation that provided dancers with political agency and a strong sense of community that connected and fractured Fijians worldwide.

Through extensive archival and ethnographic fieldwork in both Fiji and Canada, Kelly offers key insights into an underrepresented dance form, region, and culture. Her perceptive analysis of meke will be of interest in dance studies, postcolonial and Indigenous studies, anthropology and performance ethnography, and Pacific Island studies.

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