Constructing Memory: Rewriting History through the Dances of Umfundalai

Umfundalai is a contemporary African dance form that was created by Dr. Kariamu\ud Welsh, an African-American scholar and artist. The word Umfundalai translates to \ud essence, and was established in 1970 during the Black Arts Movement in the U.S. As \ud such, Umfundalai is largely a reaction for a desire for heightened visibility and \ud awareness around African art forms.\ud Welsh continued to develop this technique by researching and learning different forms \ud of traditional dances from throughout the African diaspora, reinterpreting both their \ud form and context and reforming them into a technique that could be practiced and \ud performed. This technique has been largely utilized by Welsh’s own dance company, \ud known as Kariamu & Company, and it is taught at different universities as part of dance \ud curriculums that include African dance. This thesis aims to understand the ways that \ud Kariamu Welsh understands and utilizes the processes of the African diaspora by \ud presenting a particular African identity through the dance. Although she claims to \ud express an essence of the African diaspora through Umfundalai, Umfundalai is not a \ud combination of African dances but rather its own interpretation of African performance \ud and history. As such, Umfundalai performs a selected memory of experiences that are \ud accessed through the technique and choreography. It serves to reclaim memories that were previously inaccessible but recreates them into a form that is distinct as its own \ud interpretation of the African diaspora. The diaspora is reimagined and redefined \ud through this dance