Decode noir
Decode noir
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Decolonising heritage
decoding rhythmic lineage
Decolonising heritage
decoding rhythmic lineage
Just as the rhythm of the drum and the dance are one, body and mind are one. The rhythm is encoded in body and mind. Rhythm is a continuum of knowledge, riding the waves of space-time to return in new and exciting forms. It is encoded in muscle memory – the embodied knowledge you need to belong.
Ritual is repetition, it is a practice – just as you learn to drive a car, play an instrument, braid hair, or sing. Long to learn, hard to lose, rhythm codes express emotions because they live in the body and in ritual.
The circle of cipher has survived European invasions, colonialism, enslavement and centuries of abuse. When they burned your village, killed your parents, sold your children, stole and abused your body, this knowledge stayed with you.
The code is a technology of synchrony through rhythm and innovation through improvisation. Embodied rhythms transform sorrow to joy. Rhythms connect peoples of the African Atlantic Diaspora through a rich tapestry of step and touch, roll and wind, stomp and drag, twist and shout. The rhythm calls us together in unity, resistance, rebellion.
There is call and response, circle, community. There are values and belonging. Learning happens in your body, in your experience. Thes circle of rhythm pulses in the present, honouring ancestors, even as it creates the future through improvisation... like Sankofa, like the Orisha, like the divine. (The Author 2021)
Centuries of innovation in dance and music, producing countless codes in a recognisable lineage, may be the greatest cultural achievement of the African diaspora.
Centuries of innovation in dance and music, producing countless codes in a recognisable lineage, may be the greatest cultural achievement of the African diaspora.
A recurring word for culture, language and dance knowledge in interviews was ‘code’. This aligns with Prof. Thomas DeFrantz’s Africanist dance as 'technology of transformation,' even as it recalls ‘Le Code Noir’ – the laws enslaving Afrodescendant people in the French colonial caste system. The imperative to decolonize, in collaboration with my sources and community – this is the meaning of decodenoir.org.
For me, the first step to decolonize has been to experience ancestral knowledge through dance and rhythm, then turn towards my enslaved ancestors with empathy. From there began the work to reclaim an erased history and fragmented iving heritage by turning towards indigenous and visual, as well as text sources. I seek to visualise rhythm heritage in digital space to make it more accessible.
Many thanks to the culture-bearers featured here, for sharing their stories and embodied knowledge with us.
Would you like to collaborate or support?
Would you like to collaborate or support?
This ethnography exhibition concept aims to seed a coherent African Diaspora identity narrative, network and resources in hearts, minds and institutions worldwide. For more information, see the Credits page or contact the author at 122115291@umail.ucc.ie or dublinator@netscape.net
Photos by the author: New Orleans street art (Header) | New York street artFooter: Kente Silk, Asante people – detail (photo: British Museum)
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