Dancing across borders
What is it about African rhythms that inspire people to dance? African rhythms have travelled across many continents and captivated many generations. A new project which has secured a £2.2 million grant from the European Research Council (ERC) will explore what makes the salsa, rumba and samba so popular throughout the world and promises to cross many disciplinary boundaries in the process.
‘Modern Moves: Kinetic Transnationalism and Afro-Diasporic Rhythm Cultures’ (www.modernmoves.org.uk) will be led by Professor Ananya Jahanara Kabir, who has recently joined the Department of English from the University of Leeds. ‘I want to find out why people across the world get pleasure and enjoyment from African rhythms,’ she explained.
Professor Kabir’s research seeks to uncover Africa’s role in the development of modern dance forms, from early 20th century New York Swing Dances to the music of contemporary DJs and will see researchers travelling to New York, Haiti, Mauritius, Brazil and Paris during the course of the five year project. It will chart the spread of music and dance from the passage of African slaves to the resulting fusion of African percussion and European melody.
The ERC’s Advanced Grants scheme rewards ground-breaking projects that are highly ambitious, pioneering and open new directions in research. Professor Kabir believes the ERC were keen to fund ‘Modern Moves’ due to the number of disciplinary boundaries it crosses. The project which weaves together history, literature, music, dance, philosophy and anthropology will, as Professor Kabir explained, ‘combine many topics that are not often brought together and represents frontier research’.
It is fundamental to Professor Kabir that the project is informed by conversations with musicians, dancers, photographers and DJs who are inspired by African and Afro-diasporic music and that the public have the opportunity to get involved. ‘There is no point running a project about vivacity and then keeping the results to ourselves,’ she said. ‘I would love to hold a concert or dance show at the end of the project’.
Professor Kabir is used to crossing subject boundaries during the course of her work. Originally trained as an English Literature scholar before focussing on medieval studies, she has worked on projects which delve into the visual arts, music, the contemporary cultures of South Asia and the history of global and local Islam. Professor Kabir was attracted to King’s by the dynamic nature of the English Department along with its culture of actively supporting interdisciplinary research. ‘I have been trained to read text but enjoy pushing my own boundaries as a scholar to go beyond the written word.’
Professor Kabir joined the Department of English on Monday 1 April as Professor of English Literature.