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Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614071131471872 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee |
| author2 | Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla |
| author_browse | Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee |
| author_facet | Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee |
| author_sort | Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134636 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:11.731Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134636 Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Dance -- Rwanda Rwandans -- Ethnic identity Cultural property -- Rwanda Refugees -- Cultural assimilation Performing arts -- Social aspects -- Rwanda UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Ilibagiza Mutabazi, G. A. 2025. Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/cf83a276-393d-4814-970e-53639fc5aa41 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the lived experience of “refugee-ness” among members of a Rwandan dance group who are refugees living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Using Rwandan indigenous music, dance, and cultural practices as a framework, the research examines how these modalities shape the group members' subjectivity and sense of self in exile. Building on the seminal work of scholars such as Hannah Arendt, Giorgio Agamben, and Edward Said, the study critiques the limitations of existing theoretical frameworks in capturing the complexities of the group members’ experience of “refugee-ness.” While these scholars offer valuable insights into the political and social conditions of displacement, their rights-based conceptualizations fail to adequately address the nuanced ways in which African refugees often navigate identity and reclaim their sense of belonging and cultural continuity through music and dance. This study argues that through the transgenerational transmission of the rich, embodied practice of traditional Rwandan songs and dances, from parents and other elders to the younger members of the dance group, group members actively resist the imposed identity of “refugee” and reclaim their Rwandan-ness. The Rwandan term impunzi, which translates roughly as “Rwandans who have been violently displaced or exiled from the country through wars”, is proposed as a more nuanced and appropriate term for understanding the group's experience, emphasizing the group members’ enduring connection to, and continuity with Rwanda as home despite the dislocation of exile. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar nie. Masters 2025-12-19T12:13:23Z 2025-12-19T12:13:23Z 2025-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134636 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 167 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Dance -- Rwanda Rwandans -- Ethnic identity Cultural property -- Rwanda Refugees -- Cultural assimilation Performing arts -- Social aspects -- Rwanda UCTD Ilibagiza Mutabazi, Gratia Aimee Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title | Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title_full | Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title_fullStr | Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title_short | Embodied experience and identification: Exploring the role of curating a Rwandan Cultural Group’s Song and Dance in shaping Impunzi sense of identity |
| title_sort | embodied experience and identification exploring the role of curating a rwandan cultural group s song and dance in shaping impunzi sense of identity |
| topic | Dance -- Rwanda Rwandans -- Ethnic identity Cultural property -- Rwanda Refugees -- Cultural assimilation Performing arts -- Social aspects -- Rwanda UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134636 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ilibagizamutabazigratiaaimee embodiedexperienceandidentificationexploringtheroleofcuratingarwandanculturalgroupssonganddanceinshapingimpunzisenseofidentity |