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LIVING AND DOCUMENTED CULTURE · 02

Healing dance: relationships, effort and change

The healing dance among the Juǀ’hoansi

In the studied communities, singing and night dancing form part of healing practices.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS

Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis

Declared visual reconstruction, created for museographic contextualisation; not a photograph of the original nor does it constitute documentary evidence.

Image of Healing dance: relationship, effort and change
DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS

Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis

Declared visual reconstruction, created for museographic contextualisation; not a photograph of the original nor does it constitute documentary evidence.

History and context

It is neither tourist spectacle nor pan-San rite; other communities have their own histories and decisions.

Evidence and interpretation

Synthesis based on UNESCO · ǂKhomani Cultural Landscape; UNESCO · Tsodilo; UNESCO · Maloti-Drakensberg. The comparison serves to formulate questions, not to fill gaps in the record with certainties.

Catalogue facts

Civilisation or trajectory
San peoples of southern Africa
Scope
Dance, rite and representation
Main area
Kalahari and regions of southern Africa, from Namibia and Botswana to South Africa; it was never a single state territory.

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: .

Duration changes what we hear

The Folkways edition of healing dance music preserves two giraffe songs performed by one or two women of Dobe and two longer dances recorded with women and men in Xai Xai. The initial songs last under two minutes, while the dances exceed eleven minutes. This difference allows comparing a brief exposure to song with a prolonged collective performance. The catalogue also includes a tree dance and another with drum: they are distinct documentary units that help hear variations within the repertoire.

Location and territory

Physical world map with routes of human evolutionPresent-day world coastline from Natural Earth in an equirectangular projection. The overlaid markers let you explore each milestone.Map base: Natural Earth 1:110m · public domain · present-day reference coastline

REGIONAL AREA

Orientative scope of San communities and landscapes in southern Africa; not an ethnic or state boundaryOrientative scope of San communities and landscapes in southern Africa; not an ethnic or state boundary. The footprint marks the orientative centre of the scope, not a boundary nor an exact point.

Sources and references

Consult the sources of this cultural synthesis

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