The Intersectionality of Performing Bodies: Dance and the Afghan Refugee Experience

Abstract

This article explores from an intersectional perspective how difference gains meaning through musicking, especially dancing bodies. It introduces intersectionality as a means of analysis in ethnomusicology, referring to fieldwork with Afghan refugees in Austria. I examine the specific preconditions of forced migration and diasporic life realities of Afghans in Austria, specifically focusing on the interdependency of anti-Muslim racism and gender policies. After roughly sketching an Afghan music history, I discuss Afghan pop music in the context of forced migration and present diasporic transformations with reference to social dance events. Finally, I address the interrelatedness of gender, sexuality, and dance by analysing performing bodies and their movements as corporeal signifiers of gender and sexuality as well as of race and ethnic “Otherness.” While showing how music and dance help in negotiating a sense of belonging within the web of origin, migration, and relocation, this article emphasises the role of gender and sexuality as well as that of racialisation and ethnicization in both the music and dance practices of Afghans in Vienna and in general public discourse.