The Land Is Sung : Zulu Performances and the Politics of Place / Thomas M. Pooley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pooley, Thomas M., 1983- author.

Series:

Music/culture.

Music / Culture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Land tenure--South Africa.

Land tenure.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Middletown, CT : Wesleyan University Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Ethnography on the politics of land and belonging in post apartheid Zulu performances. What does it mean to belong? In The Land is Sung, musicologist Thomas Pooley shows how performances of song, dance, and praise poetry connect Zulu communities to their ancestral homes and genealogies. For those without land tenure in the province of KwaZulu-Nata, performances articulate a sense of place. Migrants express their allegiances through performance and spiritual relationships to land are embodied in rituals that invoke ancestral connection while advancing well-being through intergenerational communication. Engaging with justice and environmental ethics, education and indigenous knowledge systems, musical and linguistic analysis, and the ethics of recording practice, Pooley's analysis draws on genres of music and dance recorded in the midlands and borderlands of South Africa, and in Johannesburg's inner city. His detailed sound writing captures the visceral experiences of performances in everyday life. The book is richly illustrated and there is a companion website featuring both video and audio examples"-- Provided by publisher.

"An ethnography of Zulu performances in post-apartheid South Africa, drawing on a decade of fieldwork showing how performances of song, dance, and praise poetry are political acts in communities still defined by their relationship to traditional leadership, land, and custom"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction. Sounding a Way

The Politics of Belonging: Land, Culture, and Representation in KwaZulu-Natal

umSindo! The Politics of Sonic Space at a Zulu Wedding

Songs of Sacrifice: uMemulo and the Politics of Gender and Generation

Phenomenology of iNgoma: isiShameni Dance and the Politics of Proximity

uMaskandi iziBongo: The Politics and Poetics of Popular Praises

Inscribing Tradition: Poverty, Inequality, and the Politics of Performance in Schools

Sounds of Tongaland: Environmental Justice at Ndumo Game Reserve

Unsung Melodies: Reciprocity in Sound

Conclusion.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780819500595

0819500593

OCLC:

1382260397