Transcultural Identity of Twerking: A Cultural Evolution Study of Women’s Bodily Practices of the Slavic and East African Communities
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Date
2024-01
Authors
Łukaszewicz, Aleksandra
Gitonga, Priscilla
Shylinhouski, Kiryl
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tylor and Francis
Abstract
Human culture is built upon nature to help humans adapt to their environment – first natural, but later natural-cultural. Cultural practices are
aimed at aiding survival in changing environments, and in different settings they meet different environmental pressures, causing later changes
in trajectories. According to cultural evolutionism, behaviours, ideas and
artefacts are subject to inheritance, competition, accumulation of modifications, adaptation, geographical distribution, convergence and
changes of function – these are mechanisms present also in biological
evolution. In the following paper, we examine women’s dance and physical exercise practices, which contain similar postures performed in comparable circumstances, as found in initiation ritual dances in chosen East
African communities and in Slavic gymnastics for women in the Belarusian
tradition. In times of globalization and the mixing of cultures, the position
on knees and elbows is recontextualized in a visually attractive form of
contemporary dances like Kangamoko and Baikoko, or more widely different variants of ‘twerking’ and reconstructed physical exercises.
Approaching ‘twerking’ positions, especially on knees and elbows as
a cross-genre performance, we find common roots in the communal
support for women’s good wife and mother status teachings in various
cultures, showing the importance of women’s circles, women’s health and
well-being for the community.
Description
Article
Keywords
Cultural evolutionism, Slavic gymnastics, Kangamoko, twerking
Citation
Łukaszewicz, A., Gitonga, P., & Shylinhouski, K. (2024). Transcultural Identity of Twerking: A Cultural Evolution Study of Women’s Bodily Practices of the Slavic and East African Communities. Social Epistemology, 1-14.