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Performing excess: urban ceremony and the semiotics of precarity in Guinea-Conakry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2019

Adrienne J. Cohen
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Abstract

In Conakry, the capital city of the Republic of Guinea, dance ceremonies called sabars, derived from a Senegalese genre of the same name, have become extremely popular for wedding celebrations. Sabar's rise in Guinea coincided with the liberalization of the country's economy and the opening of national borders in the wake of state socialism (1958–84) – events that have produced profound uncertainty for average citizens. This article explores sabar as a practice that grapples affectively with the social and economic changes neoliberal reform has engendered within Guinea. Sabar ceremonies are characterized by instantiations of excess, including hypersexualized dancing, electric amplification and theatrical displays of opulence. By examining excess as an ‘emergent’ quality whose cultural value is undetermined, the article demonstrates how dancers participate in the active constitution and questioning of collective value in Conakry, and how embodiment is central to an anthropology of precarity.

Résumé

À Conakry, la capitale de la République de Guinée, des cérémonies de danse appelées sabars, dérivées d'un genre sénégalais du même nom, étaient extrêmement populaires pour les célébrations de mariage. L'essor des sabars en Guinée a coïncidé avec la libéralisation de l’économie du pays et l'ouverture des frontières nationales dans le sillage du socialisme d’État (1958–1984); des événements qui ont fait naître une profonde incertitude pour les citoyens moyens. Cet article explore le sabar en tant que pratique qui se heurte affectivement aux changements sociaux et économiques qu'a engendrés la réforme néolibérale en Guinée. La cérémonie de sabar se caractérise par des instantiations de l'excès, y compris une danse hypersexualisée, une amplification électrique et une mise en scène de l'opulence. En examinant l'excès en tant que qualité « émergente » dont la valeur culturelle est indéterminée, l'article démontre comment les danseurs participent à la constitution active et au questionnement de la valeur collective à Conakry, et le rôle central de l'incarnation dans une anthropologie de la précarité.

Type
Precarity and sabar in Guinea
Information
Africa , Volume 89 , Issue 4 , November 2019 , pp. 718 - 738
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2019 

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