Navigating Terrains of War: youth and soldiering in Guinea Bissau (review)

From self-assertion through dance we move on to a set of chapters that examine how dance is increasingly commodified in performances for tourists. While historically dancing and drumming were the prerogative of the caste of géwël (or the Manding jali), today unemployed youth of ‘noble’ descent are increasingly practising dance in spite of the resistance of conservative parents. In order to legitimize their new trade the dancers define themselves as ‘artists’. The worldwide demand for African dance thus generates a process of professionalization that one of Castaldi’s informants qualifies as no less than a revolution. Unfortunately, the emergence of a new profession also generates new structures of exploitation. Well written and thoroughly theorized, this book presents a thoughtprovoking post-colonial critique of the way in which the African body is presented in dance and represented in writing. It engages with various post-colonial critics. With astute observations about the vicissitudes of the global economy in which the dancers operate, the author lends a sympathetic eye to what is undoubtedly the most popular art in Africa. The book offers a radical perspective on a theme – the National Ballet of Senegal – that was long due serious attention. As always, there are some aspects of the book that could have been improved. Dealing with dance in a variety of contexts, Castaldi has had trouble integrating her interrelated narratives. While the book might have benefited from a stronger choreography, its very structure as a polyrhythmic ensemble also makes it a provocative experiment in post-colonial writing.