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“Kaiso,” a term of praise that is the calypso equivalent of “bravo,” is a fitting title for this definitive and celebratory collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, the legendary African American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Originally produced in the 1970s, this is a newly revised and much expanded edition that includes recent scholarly articles, Dunham’s essays on dance and anthropology, press reviews, interviews, and chapters from Dunham’s unpublished volume of memoirs, “Minefields.” With nearly a hundred selections by dozens of authors, Kaiso! provides invaluable insight into the life and work of this pioneering anthropologist and performer and is certain to become an essential resource for scholars and general readers interested in social anthropology, dance history, African American studies, or Katherine Dunham herself.

Reviews

“VèVè Clark and Sara Johnson, the editors of Kaiso! Writings by and about Katherine Dunham, took on the task of reviewing the existing body of knowledge on choreographer, anthropologist, and activist Katherine Dunham as well as a wide range of Dunham's published and unpublished works. They have compiled an extensive testimony of the significance of Dunham to America's cultural landscape and beyond…While there are many true gems and treasures awaiting scholars of dance, anthropologists, and Dunham enthusiasts in the pages of this book, there are also sources of inspiration for anyone with a dream…This book, published in 2005, is a fitting tribute to Dunham, who left this earth in May 2006 at age ninety-six. The depth of knowledge presented here and the sheer volume of work that Clark and Johnson present suggests that there is still more that we can learn from Katherine Dunham. Kaiso!”

– Karima A. Robinson, Dance Research Journal

“Once called an ‘ambassador with hips,’ Katherine Dunham conveyed a wide range of talents through the roll of a shoulder and the sway of a back. She not only featured bodies in motion in theatrical perfomances that brought African and Caribbean traditions to stages around the world, but she also placed them at the centre of academic inquiry in anthropology…Finally, she is having a well-deserved renaissance that this book both justifies and extends by collecting in one place the many threads of her life, including memoir, non-fiction, poems, and stories that she wrote, interviews with company members, analysis of her dance tecnique, and the seminal scholarly articles that have been written thus far. 

…The book models precise inquiry and offers open questions of research and analysis that forthcoming scholarship on Dunham could pursue. The book’s greatest contribution, though, is in the overwhelming evidence that affirms Dunham’s centrality in the defining of the African diaspora, the dismantling of colonialism and the development of postcolonial thought, the trans-national and migratory flow of culture, and, perhaps most profoundly, in the insistence on binding every body to the hope of humanism.”

– Julia K. Foulkes, Australasian Journal of American Studies