Expressions of Identities in African and African Diaspora Communities through Arts

A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778). This special issue belongs to the section "Genealogical Communities: Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Racial, and Multi-National Genealogies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 3171

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Humanities, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Interests: theater; literature; dance; performing arts; visual arts; aesthtics; afro-futurism; digital humanities; politics; identities; hip hop; popular culture; Africa and African diaspora

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Genealogy that will be devoted to expressions of African identities through the arts. We invite submissions focusing on how African and people of African descent spread globally in various geographical locations spanning the black world have deployed a wide array of art forms to express, record, preserve, disseminate, and share their identities in specific historical periods over time. We seek a variety of articles encompassing historical and contemporary views of artistic expressions ranging from ancient rock paintings, artefacts, masks, sculptures, carvings, magic, religious rituals, ceremonies and festivals to more contemporary abstract paintings, graffiti, murals, and futuristic and digital art forms, and how they intersect with African identities. We welcome contributors who examine various art genres, including but not limited to paintings, installations, ceramics, quilts, tapestries, photographs, illustrations, literature, poetry, music, dance, film, theater, rituals, festivals, ceremonies, performance (in its broadest sense), digital art, and other new media art forms such as computer graphics, computer animation, robotics, video games, and 3D printing.

We seek a multiplicity of perspectives and encourage contributors to examine artistic creations as sites of knowledge for African individuals, groups, and communities, and those of African descent. Thus, contributors can also explore the significance of museums, archives, and heritage collections not just as repositories of African descendant people’s historical experiences, but as sites at which collective identities, ancestral memories, and knowledge of the self are produced, preserved, shared, recreated, and re-told. We encourage contributors to explore the extent to which common community ancestries are inextricably tied to personal and family lineages (with African roots) in ways that help shape larger national identities.

In addition, we also welcome analyses that are cognizant of the fact that artistic expressions are not produced in a vacuum, and strongly encourage writers to also examine the wider economic, cultural and socio-political milieus that have had an impact upon African and African descendant family lineage structures and shaped their identities in history.

African identities in particular are shaped, formed, and expressed in very complex ways, and this Special Issue adopts inherently interdisciplinary approaches. The primary goal of this Special Issue is to call attention to the exciting ways in which the fields of genealogy and family histories intersect in an intricate manner with the fields of performing arts, visual arts, digital arts and ancient arts. We envisage that this volume will constitute a welcome addition and supplement to the existing and growing body of literature on African identities and the various ways in which they critically engage with issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion and spirituality, notions of citizenship, origin, immigration status, socio-economic class, and other related components.

The inherently multifaceted and complex nature African identities coupled with the the multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary nature of genealogy and identity studies poses methodological challenges that call not only for sustained critical analyses, but also for pluridisciplinary approaches. We therefore call upon contributors to this volume to deploy academic disciplinary methods specific to their variegated disciplines; this will provide a much more holistic understanding, widen perspectives, and produce new, synthetic knowledge that will contribute to our further understanding of African genealogies and identities expressed through the arts.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send these to guest editor Praise Zenenga (zen08@arizona.edu) or to the Genealogy editorial office (genealogy@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Dr. Zenenga Praise
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • African and African diaspora identities
  • ancestry
  • genealogy
  • artistic expressions
  • performing arts
  • digital arts
  • modern and contemporary arts and ancient arts
  • national identity
  • memory
  • family lineage
  • museums
  • arichives
  • heritage collections
  • exhibitions

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 30143 KiB  
Article
Identity Through Iteration: Secondary Imagemaking Practices as Expressions of Cultural Continuity, Change and Interpretation in the Rock Art of Southern Africa
by Andrew Skinner
Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9020042 - 8 Apr 2025
Viewed by 749
Abstract
This paper examines secondary rock art practices in southern Africa and how they served as mechanisms for expressing and negotiating identity through iterative engagement with existing artistic traditions. Often dismissed as mere ’graffiti’ or vandalism, these practices of modifying, adding to, or reinterpreting [...] Read more.
This paper examines secondary rock art practices in southern Africa and how they served as mechanisms for expressing and negotiating identity through iterative engagement with existing artistic traditions. Often dismissed as mere ’graffiti’ or vandalism, these practices of modifying, adding to, or reinterpreting historic rock art represent sophisticated forms of engagement with inherited cultural landscapes. Through detailed analysis of mode, placement, and technique, this article demonstrates how secondary artists used existing imagery as both physical and symbolic resources, selectively mobilising earlier artforms to articulate their own positions within changing social worlds. With their technical choices encoding specific attitudes towards inherited traditions, secondary artists appear as one of many audiences—a range which includes contemporary researchers—engaging with these artistic traditions as subjects of common interest, their modifications creating material epistolaries that capture how different communities understood and positioned themselves relative to their own imaginations of the past. By reconceptualising these practices as meaningful interpretive acts rather than degradation, this paper contributes to broader discussions about how African identities have been articulated, contested, and preserved through active engagement with cultural heritage across time. Full article
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22 pages, 920 KiB  
Article
Soundscapes of Resistance: Delta Blues and the Transcultural Journeys of the African Diaspora
by John Byron Strait
Genealogy 2025, 9(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy9010014 - 8 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1699
Abstract
As a distinct musical form, blues music from the Mississippi Delta has been extensively studied across various academic disciplines. While much of this attention has treated blues primarily as an auditory experience, I argue that it represents far more than just sound or [...] Read more.
As a distinct musical form, blues music from the Mississippi Delta has been extensively studied across various academic disciplines. While much of this attention has treated blues primarily as an auditory experience, I argue that it represents far more than just sound or entertainment. This research project examines Delta blues as a comprehensive cultural phenomenon, exploring its evolution through a series of distinct diffusionary pathways that reveal complex global interactions and transcultural exchange. This study posits that Delta blues emerged from a broad cultural milieu, shaped by multiple layers of geographical processes ranging from ancient African trade routes to twentieth-century migration patterns. I position Delta blues within the context of the African diaspora, emphasizing not only its strong roots in African and African American cultural traditions but also its crucial role as a vehicle for cultural resistance and consciousness-raising. By mapping the evolution of blues music and culture through specific circuits of exchange, I illuminate the intricate interrelationships between different peoples and places across time and space. This approach reveals how global interactions generated a unique musical and cultural expression that both embodies and transcends the complex social dynamics inherent in the African diaspora. Full article
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