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Whiteness and the Performance of Race in American Ballroom Dance

Whiteness and the Performance of Race in American Ballroom Dance Based on ethnographic fieldwork with predominantly white, middle-class, American ballroom dancers, this article discusses the ballroom as a site where problematic constructions of whiteness and otherness are embodied in performance. Through the genre classifications of "modern" and "Latin," whiteness is made universal and normative while the racial other is made particular and exotic, physical and sexual. The article argues that both dance classifications are manifestations of whiteness, mirrored reflections of one another that help to define whiteness by making invisible what whiteness is and explicitly pronouncing what whiteness is not. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of American Folklore American Folklore Society

Whiteness and the Performance of Race in American Ballroom Dance

Journal of American Folklore , Volume 120 (475) – Jan 25, 2007

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Publisher
American Folklore Society
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
ISSN
1535-1882
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork with predominantly white, middle-class, American ballroom dancers, this article discusses the ballroom as a site where problematic constructions of whiteness and otherness are embodied in performance. Through the genre classifications of "modern" and "Latin," whiteness is made universal and normative while the racial other is made particular and exotic, physical and sexual. The article argues that both dance classifications are manifestations of whiteness, mirrored reflections of one another that help to define whiteness by making invisible what whiteness is and explicitly pronouncing what whiteness is not.

Journal

Journal of American FolkloreAmerican Folklore Society

Published: Jan 25, 2007

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