Preface  ix
Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction. The Politics of Participation in Ngoma Song and Dance  1
1. Turning to Be Kissed: Praise, Flirtation, and the Work of Men  28
2. The Unwavering Voice: Affect, Eloquence, and the Moral Anger of Men  62
3. Feet of the Centipede: Military Aesthetics and the Politics of Reconciliation  94
4. To Quell the Dancer's Dust: Singing Violence during South Africa's Transition  124
5. The Crossing: World Music and Ngoma at Home  151
6. Dancing Around Disease: Silence, Ambiguity, and Brotherhood  182
7. The Digital Homestead: Having a Voice and the Sound of Marginalization  210
8. Brokering the Body: Culture, Heritage, and the Pleasure of Participation  240
Closing. Ngoma's Masculinity, South Africa's Struggle  266
Notes  273
References  307
Index  329

TJ Lemon

Co-Winner, 2018 Alan Merriam Prize, presented by the Society for Ethnomusicology

"Studies of African performance remain far too few; this one sets a very high bar. Essential." — A. F. Roberts, Choice

"Crackling with energy and erudition, Dust of the Zulu now vivifies ngoma for the academy." — Benedict Carton, Journal of Modern African Studies

"Louis Meintjes's Dust of the Zulu leaps out at the reader with the same energy and passion as the Ngoma dancers themselves. It is uncanny how deftly Meintjes captures the vibrancy and rhythm of the performers and performances in her writing, and T.J. Lemon’s photos are the perfect complement to the descriptions of harmonized bodies and voices." — Aran Mackinnon, African Quarterly

"Meintjes’s fluid ethnographic writing melds analytical precision with a depth of cultural insight gained through long immersion. The book’s dialectical force is sustained by the richness and intimacy of Meintjes’s collaborations. Zulu voices saturate the book’s textures. . . . The prose itself is beautifully wrought. . . . Replete with revelations that are by turns tremendously moving, frightening, disconcerting, and inspiring." — Thomas M. Pooley, Anthropos

"We travel with Meintjes as she recounts individual narratives of Zulu men maintaining dignity amidst wavering stability in wage-labor, health, and the inconsistent machinations of the international music industry. The humanity, fragility, and mutual constitution of strength through aesthetics is expertly handled in this new classic in the genre of performative ethnography." — Elizabeth Perrill, International Journal of African Historical Studies

Co-Winner, 2018 Alan Merriam Prize, presented by the Society for Ethnomusicology

"Studies of African performance remain far too few; this one sets a very high bar. Essential." —A. F. Roberts, Choice

"Crackling with energy and erudition, Dust of the Zulu now vivifies ngoma for the academy." —Benedict Carton, Journal of Modern African Studies

"Louis Meintjes's Dust of the Zulu leaps out at the reader with the same energy and passion as the Ngoma dancers themselves. It is uncanny how deftly Meintjes captures the vibrancy and rhythm of the performers and performances in her writing, and T.J. Lemon’s photos are the perfect complement to the descriptions of harmonized bodies and voices." —Aran Mackinnon, African Quarterly

"Meintjes’s fluid ethnographic writing melds analytical precision with a depth of cultural insight gained through long immersion. The book’s dialectical force is sustained by the richness and intimacy of Meintjes’s collaborations. Zulu voices saturate the book’s textures. . . . The prose itself is beautifully wrought. . . . Replete with revelations that are by turns tremendously moving, frightening, disconcerting, and inspiring." —Thomas M. Pooley, Anthropos

"We travel with Meintjes as she recounts individual narratives of Zulu men maintaining dignity amidst wavering stability in wage-labor, health, and the inconsistent machinations of the international music industry. The humanity, fragility, and mutual constitution of strength through aesthetics is expertly handled in this new classic in the genre of performative ethnography." —Elizabeth Perrill, International Journal of African Historical Studies

“Dust of the Zulu is hands-down among the very best ethnographic works ever written on the politics of aesthetics. Commanding, rewarding, challenging, and shattering in turns, equally gorgeous and unflinching in its evocations, it is above all poignant and virtuosic in its performance of criticism and compassion. This is a hugely important book for South African history and aesthetics, for anthropologies of the body and voice, for cultural studies of music, sound, and dance, and for experimental ethnographic writing and imaging. A stunning book.” — Steven Feld, author of, Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana

“Louise Meintjes brilliantly salvages Zulu dancers from the demeaning, colonialist stereotypes of sweating, bellicose, and largely anonymous men. Readers who have long been frustrated by the dearth of serious studies of African dance will welcome her comprehensive theoretical grasp, analytical rigor, and sheer intellectual potency. A terrific work that will have a lasting impact, Dust of the Zulu will reinvigorate dance and performance studies everywhere. Meintjes makes South African studies proud.” — Veit Erlmann, author of, Music, Modernity, and the Global Imagination: South Africa and the West

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