The Dance of Politics: Gender, Performance and Democratization in Malawi (review)

At the time of writing President Museveni of Uganda has just issued a rap version of a Kinyankole folk chant which has not only become an adjunct to his presidential re-election campaign but is widely played as dance music - and even as an optional ring tone offered by one of that country's telecom companies. The phenomenon of national elections, of course, is everywhere a confection of politics and the advertising industry. This is a particularly inventive instance.

But this may be both a good and a bad example with which to start this review. On the one hand, it draws attention to the role musical performance has played in African politics; and in that context it situates the complexity of the idea of 'traditional' modes of performance in contemporary politics on the continent. Yet, because men have dominated national politics in so many places in sub-Saharan Africa, the political role of women remains significantly underplayed. As Lisa Gilman's insightful book illustrates, a full account of the 'dance of politics' must involve women, not just senior male politicians - and not just women with political ambition, but the many others who often participate in political rallies from divergent motivations. The Ugandan example is also mostly about text and narrative (the referencing of folk tale genres). Gilman demonstrates that political performances include not just singing but considerations of location, dress styles, dance, ululation, clapping and drumming. And, in addition to performance, questions of social and economic status, the nature of political commitment and remuneration, together with the interrelationship of the perception of the traditional with the contemporaneous - which Museveni is exploiting so strikingly - play into any wider account.

Gilman's topic is this multiplicity of perspectives in the politics of post-independence Malawi. Thus the trajectory of the book steers a course straight through the control-freakery of the Banda era, to the successful toying with the possibility of democracy in the referendum of 1993, and the emergence of a multiparty state in the three elections of 1994, 1999 and 2004, each documented in the book. The shift between dictatorship and democracy is clearly the pivotal moment in political terms but, interestingly, the book shows that for women the show goes on. Their role in enhancing political ambitions remains relevant. The whole range of performative instruments is in play, albeit adapted to changed circumstances. No longer is there the coercion or threat of censure that would attend any hint of criticism under Banda's dictatorship. There is no longer an obligation to celebrate political leaders in performance; yet the practice continues undiminished.

Gilman locates the development of political dancing in the tradition of praise singing. The model is that of the cheerleader. Thus the lampooning of political opponents, the ribaldry of some hiragasy performances in Madagascar or the poking of fun (evident, for instance, in some Pende masquerade in Congo) is not the point of political dancing. Likewise, despite the lower economic standing of the women who perform, dancing is not the arena for overt confrontation with social and economic injustice. In answer to the question of why women dance, Gilman distinguishes between those who are motivated by political causes and the majority who may see it as an opportunity to travel, to gather with other women for social reasons, to gain a little extra money, or to claim a degree of independence from their husbands.

This is not by any means a speculative work. Indeed, it is very solidly rooted in first-hand observation, a piece of detailed reportage where events and discussions are related with the authority of extensive empirical witness over more than a decade. Direct quotation from interviews is extensive and the narrative is firmly grounded in the grassroots. At times it has a diary-like aspect, as journeys to political meetings are described in more detail than would be required for a purely academic work. The reader is placed...