Backstage

This chapter examines how the practice of forcing slaves to perform continued offstage. It looks at the backstage to expose the private world of bondsmen and bondswomen. Through an analysis of slave narratives and autobiographies, it shows how slaves used the performing arts to gain agency and auton...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRing Shout, Wheel About
Main Author Thompson, Katrina Dyonne
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Illinois Press 01.07.2016
Subjects
agency
Applied Music
autonomy
backstage performances
blacks
music
performing arts
power
resistance
slaves
song
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Summary:This chapter examines how the practice of forcing slaves to perform continued offstage. It looks at the backstage to expose the private world of bondsmen and bondswomen. Through an analysis of slave narratives and autobiographies, it shows how slaves used the performing arts to gain agency and autonomy, create family and community bonds, and preserve homeland cultures while their own unique traditions emerged. It discusses the ways in which music and dance as well as song contributed to the development of a dual world that blacks continually straddled, one side representing entertainment and subjugation and the other symbolizing resistance and an emerging culture. The chapter reveals how blacks manipulated the negativity of the performing arts and transformed their backstage performances into an expression of power.
ISBN:9780252038259
0252038258
DOI:10.5406/illinois/9780252038259.003.0005