1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910768441503321

Autore

Feder Lisa

Titolo

Jeliya at the Crossroads : Learning African Wisdom through an Embodied Practice / / by Lisa Feder

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2021

ISBN

9783030830595

3030830594

Edizione

[1st ed. 2021.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (264 pages)

Collana

Palgrave Studies in Literary Anthropology, , 2946-4226

Disciplina

301.29663

781.629634

Soggetti

Anthropology and the arts

Music

Ethnology

Philosophical anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology of the Arts

Ethnography

Anthropological Theory

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Sweetness in the Gambia -- 3. Moving with Gambians -- 4. Doing Time: The Balafon Workshops, United States -- 5. Direct Transmissions: Going with the Flow -- 6. At Home: Lessons in Respecting Time -- 7. Enchanting Cosmopolitan New York -- 8. Manding New York: Jeliya Bara Bang -- 9. Patronage: Becoming a Jatigi -- 10. Living "in between" Cultures -- 11. Paris 2015-2021.-12. Duniya: Weaving Pasts and Futures.

Sommario/riassunto

This book describes the remarkable culture of jeliya, a musical and verbal art from the Manding region of West Africa. Using an embodied practice as her methodology, the author reveals how she and her music teachers live "in between" local and global cultures. Her journey spans 20 years of fieldwork presented through personal and intimate stories, first as a student of the balafon instrument, then as a patron of the



music. Tensions build in both the music and in social relations that require resolutions, underscoring the differences between two world views. Through balafon lessons, the author embodies values such as patience, courage, and generosity, resulting in a transformative practice that leads her to better understand her position vis-à-vis that of her jeli teachers. Meanwhile, jeliya itself, despite having been transmitted from teacher to student for 800 years, is currently in peril. Jelis cite modern globalized culture and people like the author herself as both a source of the problem as well as the potential solution.