Studies in Dance History

Performing the Translocal Realities of Contemporary Fiji

Evadne Kelly

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780299322038
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performing Arts

Meke, a traditional rhythmic dance accompanied by singing, signifies an important piece of identity for Fijians. Despite its complicated history of colonialism, racism, censorship, and religious conflict, meke remained a vital part of artistic expression and culture. Evadne Kelly performs close readings of the dance in relation to an evolving landscape, following the postcolonial reclamation that provided dancers with political agency and a strong sense of community that connected and fractured Fijians worldwide.
Through extensive archival and ethnographic fieldwork in both Fiji and Canada, Kelly offers key insights into an underrepresented dance form, region, and culture. Her perceptive analysis of meke will be of interest in dance studies, postcolonial and Indigenous studies, anthropology and performance ethnography, and Pacific Island studies.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Orthography
• Introduction: Fijian by Decree
• 1. Meke in a Changing Imperial World
• 2. Governing Meke: Choreographing Pasts, Expressing Futures
• 3. Meke in Multicultural Canada
• 4. Spiriting Meke: Generating Stability, Tension, and Transformation
• 5. Generating Efficacy: Countervailing Rhythms of a Contemporary Meke
• 6. Performing Indeterminacy: Performance of Mekhe ni Loloma
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index