On April 17th at 4 PM in the Library Gallery we welcome Dr. Deborah Thomas, who will present “The Question of Bodily Sovereignty, or, Anthropology as Vulnerable Praxis.”
Title: The Question of Bodily Sovereignty, or, Anthropology as Vulnerable Praxis
Dr. Thomas will explore powerful questions like:
What can the body reveal about ways of being and knowing that do not fit within Western frameworks?
How does the body help us understand collective modes of world-building that exist outside of, but still interact with, modern political systems and legalistic notions of sovereignty?
Anthropologist Deborah Thomas will explore these questions by looking at the practices of Kumina, a Jamaican spiritual and cultural tradition that involves drumming, singing, and dancing. In her presentation, Dr. Thomas will draw from her experience co-organizing a Kumina festival over the past five years to show how the body carries both the legacies of colonialism and the tools to resist and reshape them.