Rediasporization : African-Guyanese Kweh-Kweh : African-Guyanese Kweh-Kweh.

This book examines how African-Guyanese in New York City participate in the Come to My Kwe-Kwe ritual to facilitate rediasporization, that is, the creation of a newer diaspora from an existing one. Since the fall of 2005, African-Guyanese in New York City have celebrated Come to My Kwe-Kwe (more recently called Kwe-Kwe Night) on the Friday evening before Labor Day. Come to My Kwe-Kwe is a reenactment of a uniquely African-Guyanese pre-wedding ritual called kweh-kweh, and sometimes referred to as karkalay, mayan, kweh-keh, and pele. A typical traditional (wedding-based) kweh-kweh has approximately ten ritual segments, which include the pouring of libation to welcome or appease the ancestors; a procession from the groom’s residence to the bride’s residence or central kweh-kweh venue; the hiding of the bride; and the negotiation of bride price. Each ritual segment is executed with music and dance, which allow for commentary on conjugal matters, such as sex, domestication, submissiveness, and hard work. Come to My Kwe-Kwe replicates the overarching segments of the traditional kweh-kweh, but a couple (male and female) from the audience acts as the bride and groom, and props simulate the boundaries of the traditional performance space, such as the gate and the bride’s home. This book draws on more than a decade of ethnographic research data and demonstrates how Come to My Kwe-Kwe allows African-Guyanese-Americans to negotiate complex, overlapping identities in their new homeland, by combining elements from the past and present and reinterpreting them to facilitate rediasporization and ensure group survival. Rediasporization: African-Guyanese Kweh-Kweh examines how African-Guyanese in New York City participate in the Come to My Kwe-Kwe ritual to facilitate rediasporization , that is, the creation of a newer diaspora from an existing one. Since the fall of 2005, African-Guyanese in New York City have celebrated Come to My Kwe-Kwe (more recently called Kwe-Kwe Night ) on the Friday evening before Labor Day. Come to My Kwe-Kwe is a reenactment of a uniquely African-Guyanese pre-wedding ritual called kweh-kweh , and sometimes referred to as karkalay , mayan , kweh-keh , and pele . A typical traditional (wedding-based) kweh-kweh has approximately ten ritual segments, which include the pouring of libation to welcome or appease the ancestors; a procession from the groom's residence to the bride's residence or central kweh-kweh venue; the hiding of the bride; and the negotiation of bride price. Each ritual segment is executed with music and dance, which allow for commentary on conjugal matters, such as sex, domestication, submissiveness, and hard work. Come to My Kwe-Kwe replicates the overarching segments of the traditional kweh-kweh , but a couple (male and female) from the audience acts as the bride and groom, and props simulate the boundaries of the traditional performance space, such as the gate and the bride's home. This book draws on more than a decade of ethnographic research data and demonstrates how Come to My Kwe-Kwe allows African-Guyanese-Americans to negotiate complex, overlapping identities in their new homeland, by combining elements from the past and present and reinterpreting them to facilitate rediasporization and ensure group survival. "Every year on the Friday before Labor Day, Guyanese from all over the world convene in Brooklyn, New York, to celebrate the accidental tradition of Come to My Kwe-Kwe and to connect or reconnect with other Guyanese. Since the fall of 2005, they have celebrated Come to My Kwe-Kwe (more recently, Kwe-Kwe Night), a reenactment of a uniquely African Guyanese prewedding ritual called kweh-kweh, also known as karkalay, mayan, kweh-keh, or pele. Come to My Kwe-Kwe has increasingly become a symbol of African Guyaneseness. In this volume, Rediasporization: African Guyanese Kwe-Kwe, Gillian Richards-Greaves examines the role of Come to My Kwe-Kwe in the construction of a secondary African Guyanese diaspora (a rediasporization) in New York City. She explores how African Guyanese in the United States draw on the ritual to articulate their tripartite cultural identities: African, Guyanese, and American. This work also investigates the factors that affect African Guyanese perceptions of their racial and gendered selves, and how these perceptions, in turn, impact their engagement with African-influenced cultural performances like Come to My Kwe-Kwe. This work demonstrates how the malleability of this celebration allows African Guyanese to negotiate, highlight, conceal, and even sometimes reject complex, shifting, overlapping, and contextual identities. Ultimately, this work explores how these performances in the United States facilitate African Guyanese transformation from an imagined community to a tangible community"-- Provided by publisher This text examines how African-Guyanese in New York City participate in the Come to My Kwe-Kwe ritual to facilitate rediasporization, that is, the creation of a newer diaspora from an existing one