Le tànnëbéer multisitué

Abstract

From a multi-situated ethnography of Senegalese dance festivals called tànnëbéers, this article questions the role of music and dance performances in reconfiguring the affiliations and borders of a Senegalese community in migration. Based on the concept of ‘emotional community’, it highlights the importance of emotions for the situational, ephemeral, and versatile production of community connections and the negotiation of social boundaries. After having questioned the way in which ‘traditional’ and artistically creative ideas are put under stress by the reterritorialisation of the tànnëbéers in Europe, the article examines how the transnationalisation of this festivity in new spaces is represented by musicians

Keywords

• Sabar dance
• emotional community
• transnationalisation