Abstract:
Dance as a complex cultural phenomenon contains elements that define people
as belonging to a particular cultural group. As a form of self-expression and
communication, dance has the power to bring people together in peaceful
coexistence. This thesis examines dance as a tool for identity negotiation in
the church. It focuses on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, specifically the
Immanuel congregation at Madina, Accra. The Presbyterian Church was the
first Christian church to be institutionalized in Ghana and has survived
continuously since its establishment in the 1820s. The thesis examines dance
as an expressive medium to complement the worship style of the church in
order to make the institution more attractive to its members. It adopts a
qualitative mode of investigation using ethnographic fieldwork to explore the
use of dance as a medium for identity negotiation in the church. The study
conceptually draws on the work of Taylor (1994), to capture the dialogic
aspects of identity negotiation and to affirm that identity is meaningless
outside a system of representation in social space. The study combines
perspectives from ethnomusicology, dance studies, psychology, history,
theology, and anthropology to establish dance as an important medium for
identity negotiation in the church.
