Drumming Asian America - Taiko, Performance, and Cultural Politics

Taiko is a dynamic form of drumming that originated in 1950s Japan and inspired Japanese Americans in the 1960s. Through interviews, historical research, and the author's taiko experience, Drumming Asian America connects taiko with Asian American politics, arguing that taiko players of many identities perform Asian America on and off stage.

About the author

Angela K. Ahlgren is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Film at Bowling Green State University, where she teaches Theater History and Performance Studies and advises a collegiate taiko group. She is affiliated with Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Culture Studies at BGSU.

Summary

Taiko is a dynamic form of drumming that originated in 1950s Japan and inspired Japanese Americans in the 1960s. Through interviews, historical research, and the author's taiko experience, Drumming Asian America connects taiko with Asian American politics, arguing that taiko players of many identities perform Asian America on and off stage.

Additional text

This book is urgently important and deeply informed. Ahlgren models the power of intersectional interpretation, and she shows how taiko players activate intimate allyships across difference when asymmetries and ambivalences are acknowledged. I urge taiko players to read this book.

Product details

• Authors: Angela K. Ahlgren, Angela K. (Assistant Professor of Theater Ahlgren
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.06.2018
• EAN: 9780199374014
• ISBN: 978-0-19-937401-4
• No. of pages: 198
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; Perkussionsinstrumente, Music / Songbooks, MUSIC / Musical Instruments / Percussion, MUSIC / Ethnomusicology, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Dance