Embodying Tradition, Imagining Home: Baakisimba Dance and the Ugandan Diaspora

Abstract

This paper investigates how engagement with the Ugandan Baakisimba folk dance tradition enables cultural resilience and identity continuity for members of the Ugandan diaspora community in Trondheim, Norway. Through an immersive seven-month ethnographic study involving participant observation and interviews, the findings reveal baakisimba's versatility as a vehicle for intergenerational transmission of intangible heritage, as a tool for strengthening social cohesion, and providing a conduit for productively processing nostalgic sentiments. Analysis of a baakisimba performance during a baptism ceremony demonstrates the dance form's effectiveness in shaping communal belonging and sparking continuity with Ugandan cultural roots despite migration's ruptures. The research underscores embodied artistic practices' considerable capacity to mediate complex relocations.