Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, professor emeritus of African and African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee
The sound of drums accompany dancers in traditional costumes when Ko-Thi Dance Company, one of Milwaukee’s treasures, performs. Comprised of artists trained in the history, mythology and art forms of the African diaspora, Ko-Thi keeps the traditions of Africa alive through classes for kids and adults, outreach programs and a full-length concert. 2019 is Ko-Thi’s 50th anniversary, which is being celebrated by a series of events, including conferences about Africa and black arts, before reaching its climax with the Juba-Lee concerts starting on Friday, Aug. 2.
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith—professor emeritus of African and African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee—will lead a lecture about race on Tuesday, July 16, leading up to Ko-Thi’s 50th anniversary concert. While Ko-Thi touches on the subject through dance and music, Bellegarde-Smith puts it into words and looks at history. He discussed his presentation, “‘Race’ and ‘Color’ in Latin America and the Caribbean,” with Off the Cuff.
What are African and African Diaspora Studies?
I was responsible for courses on African religions—in Africa, the Caribbean states and in South America. I was also responsible for courses on Caribbean national identity, history, political economy and cultures, as well as similar courses on Latin America, with a clear emphasis on the black populations in all these countries—whose populations eclipse that of blacks residing in the U.S.
Why do you think Ko-Thi has lasted 50 years?
Ko-Thi Dance Company is the premier African and Afro-Caribbean dance company. Its creator, professor emerita Ferne Y. Caulker, was born and raised in the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa. She learned her art from the best-known African and African American legends in the field of dance, and the company is the longest-surviving such group in the U.S. Few African American organizations have had the longevity that Ko-Thi has.
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It has been a complicated story, with all the ups and downs that one expects from art forms that are depreciated in the United States. All cities insist on having ballet, opera, theater, symphony orchestras (even if third-rate), but no city seems to realize that a first-rate African dance company is a jewel to be cherished and nurtured. Pity!
In further illustration, the Milwaukee Art Museum has one of the very best collection of Haitian art (painting and sculpture) in the world, but few know it, and most would not care. A third-rate Pablo Picasso is prized over that sublime Haitian art. African art of all kinds is exceedingly diverse because it consists of 55 nation-states and several thousand national and ethnic groups, thousands of languages and dialects and a multiplicity of “indigenous” religions.
What motivated you to talk for the company’s 50th anniversary?
I became a member of Ko-Thi’s board of directors in 1987. Though I left a few years ago, I never really left Ko Thi—attending all performances when done locally and supporting it in numerous ways as best I could. My dream is to become a Ko-Thi dancer when I grow up!
What do you cover in your lectures?
The 50th year celebration goes for 12 full months in 2019-’20. In April, in my lecture “From Here to Wakanda,” I traced the robust religious heritage and spiritual disciplines that accompanied enslaved Africans from their countries into this continent. These traditions remain vibrant and keep growing in all our countries. What distinguishes African spiritual domains from the so-called universal systems that spread through colonialism and slavery is their refusal to see the world in binaries, as “good” vs. “evil.” Gender becomes fluid. Sins do not exist. Neither does Satan.
My next presentation, on Tuesday, July 16, will center on the social construct of “race,” which does not otherwise exist in science, color or social class in the Caribbean and Latin American nation-states. Blacks do not define themselves as blacks; they are assigned that status by the dominant society.
These atrocities survived the national period inaugurated by the independence of these countries. But, freed from European imperial powers—the systems and institutions created by European slave powers—they have survived to this day. Why the emphasis away from the United States and toward other societies? Because Americans may become more responsive when dealing with the foibles of others instead of our own.
For more information about Ko-Thi’s Juba-Lee concerts and tickets, visit etix.com. Bellegarde-Smith will speak on Tuesday, July 16, at Mitchell St. Library, 906 W. Historic Mitchell St.
