{"product_id":"congos-dancers-women-and-work-in-kinshasa-paperback-softback-9780299340346","title":"Congo's Dancers; Women and Work in Kinshasa (Paperback \/ softback) 9780299340346","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eCongo's Dancers\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eWomen and Work in Kinshasa\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eLesley Nicole Braun (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780299340346\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 17 December 2024\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e216 pages, 12 b\u0026amp;w illus.\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.399 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“An excellent contribution. . . . It offers new insights into women’s creativity, embodiment, pleasure, and agency within inequitable gender and class systems.”—\u003ci\u003eInternational Journal of African Historical Studies\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Like its topic, Braun’s writing is highly entertaining thanks to her thoroughly selected ethnographic vignettes and embodied exposure to the realities of the danseuse. It is a must read.”—\u003ci\u003eJournal of Modern African Studies\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A highly original and compelling work of ethnography. The role of urban women in the production of popular culture often tends to be overlooked and undervalued, and Braun’s study of female concert dancers in Kinshasa, the beating heart of much of the musical world in Congo, the African continent, and beyond, makes a substantial contribution to fill in this lacuna.” —Filip De Boeck, coauthor of \u003ci\u003eSuturing the City: Living Together in Congo’s Urban Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Braun’s study comes as a unique and innovative contribution to our understanding of Kinshasa as a kinetic cityscape that dizzies itself in its perpetual gyrations and metamorphoses. By locating women dancers at the center of Kinshasa’s vortex-like ambiance, Braun’s fine-grained narrative does more than just render these performers visible and agentive; it disrupts and shakes up staid notions of gender configurations, femininity, and the economy of the affect.”—Ch. Didier Gondola, author of \u003ci\u003eTropical Cowboys: Westerns, Violence, and Masculinity in Kinshasa\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A brilliant study of the dynamics of gender, labor, and respectability. Drawing on deep fieldwork, Lesley Braun poignantly shows how the dilemmas that professional female dancers face—of being highly visible and yet respectable—offer a lens through which to analyze the double binds that characterize women’s lives more broadly. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in gender, performance, and contemporary social change.”—Jennifer Cole, University of Chicago\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eDance music plays a central role in the cultural, social, religious, and family lives of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among the various genres popular in the capital city of Kinshasa, Congolese rumba occupies a special place and can be counted as one of the DRC’s most well-known cultural exports. The public image of rumba was historically dominated by male bandleaders, singers, and musicians. However, with the introduction of the \u003ci\u003edanseuse \u003c\/i\u003e(professional concert dancer) in the late 1970s, the role of women as cultural, moral, and economic actors came into public prominence and helped further raise Congolese rumba’s international profile.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Lesley Nicole Braun uses the prism of the Congolese \u003ci\u003edanseuse \u003c\/i\u003eto examine the politics of control and the ways in which notions of visibility, virtue, and socioeconomic opportunity are interlinked in this urban African context. The work of the \u003ci\u003edanseuse \u003c\/i\u003ehighlights the fact that public visibility is necessary to build the social networks required for economic independence, even as this visibility invites social opprobrium for women. The concert dancer therefore exemplifies many of the challenges that women face in Kinshasa as they navigate the public sphere, and she illustrates the gendered differences of local patronage politics that shape public morality. As an ethnographer, Braun had unusual access to the world she documents, having been invited to participate as a concert dancer herself.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Women and Dance in Congo’\u003cbr\u003es Modern History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 2\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Overlapping Tempos \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 3\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Dance Formations  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 4\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From Containment to Entrapment \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 5\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Working through Encadrement \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCoda  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Wisconsin Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52520711520536,"sku":"9780299340346","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/congos-dancers-women-and-work-in-kinshasa-paperback-softback-9780299340346","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}