Introduction

Human beings do not suddenly become oppressed, but rather are systematically initiated into a political economy of enslavement and cultural subordination from the moment they are born. This is consistent with histories of cultural disaffiliation, reinforced in schools and by colonising legacies of dehumanisation, which continue to impact both the individual and collective existence of oppressed populations worldwide. This process of colonisation – although often shrouded or denied in the current educational context where multicultural representations and appropriations abound without social or material shifts in power or wealth – is intensified and solidified when workingclass children of colour enter schools. Within the experience of colonised learning, students are confronted with cultural deficit views. Here, the cultural sensibilities that students bring to the classroom are often negated or deemed worthless to their education, as they navigate unspoken expectations of class and cultural assimilation. This unfortunate process of negation is carried out by educational practices that repress and inhibit the emancipatory capacities of the body (Shapiro, 1999).

We begin here, in that our work seeks to consider the ways in which cultural dances that have persisted within enslaved and colonising contexts, have often functioned as a political embodiment of emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual survival; the formation of distinct cultural identities; and communal empowerment, even when the dance practices of communities of colour have been systematically negated, rejected, exoticised, or commodified within the dominant society (Desmond, 1994; Cohen Bull, 1997; DeFrantz, 2004; Castaldi, 2006). As Freire suggests, the body constitutes the earliest language and, therefore, it is within its cultural and creative field that children first develop their capacity to express what they feel and share the stories that give meaning to their lives (Foster, 1986; Novack, 1990; Ness, 1992). From this vantage point, cultural dances, as moving stories of communal resistance, struggle and liberation, can assist educators to better engage the wisdom inherent in the emotional, physical and spiritual values of working-class communities of colour. Yet, real difficulties can arise when teachers are oblivious to the knowledge of cultural ways of knowing – knowledge that can potentially support children of colour in navigating conditions of hegemonic schooling.