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Most tourists visiting Cambodia only seek to visit the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. The Cambodian, or Khmer people are capitalizing on this booming tourist industry, but they are also disseminating a more complex Khmer identity through other sites and festivals. This identity simultaneously hearkens back to the affluence of the Angkor Period in Khmer history and looks forward to the modernization of the country. After the reign of the Khmer Rouge, from 1975-1979, which led to what is now called the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Khmer people needed to create a new, hopeful, peaceful identity for their nation. The new Khmer identity is still being created and strengthened today. This thesis is about performance and its intersection with identity. It argues that the Khmer are using performance—both onstage and offstage—as a means towards identity formation. The contemporary performance of Khmer identity is serving to increase nationalism as well as raise interest and funding for Cambodia from foreign tourists. This thesis looks closely at three sites of Khmer performance: a Khmer performance enacted onstage entitled Sokacha, the Pioneer Day celebrations of the Khmer-Mormon community in Phnom Penh, and the yearly Water Festival. Each of these performance sites demonstrates the dual performance occurring—a performance to reify Khmer identity to Khmer people from around the world, and a performance of Khmer identity packaged for foreigners to purchase. Performance on stage has been altered, choosing only elements of traditional Khmer performance that emphasize the new identity. But the Khmer are using other venues, like festivals and celebrations, to perform identity. In adopting only elements of Khmer history that fit the hopeful trajectory of the new Khmer identity, the Khmer are creating and performing a new identity, both onstage and offstage, to fit the present and future Cambodia. Two identities of Cambodia are being performed: one aimed at Khmer to instill national pride, and one performed for the tourists that help fund that effort.

Text in English / This case study of the Caravan Traditional Dance group profiles Musisinyani Mackson Mavunda‘s contribution to Tsonga music and dance performing arts. The lack of documentation of the work of Tsonga local traditional composers and choreographers is well-known in South Africa. This is echoed by Kidula (2006: 109), stating that ‗many studies from the continent have few outlets in the global academy, inasmuch as the work done by foreign researchers is barely known in much of Africa‘. A few years in the future, it will not be known who the composer of a certain song was, and what their intentions were in composing that particular song. Naturally the composers want to send a message to the community and sometimes to entertain the community or compose for a certain ritual. Composers need a considerable amount of planning and carefully chosen words, choreography and so on and this becomes apparent when taking into account the time and effort they put into composing a song. In response to this problem and by placing the composers‘ narratives at the centre, the study examines the role of the founder of the Caravan Traditional Dance group (CTD), Musisinyani Mackson Mavunda, and his contribution to Tsonga music and dance performing arts. This requires a critical examination of all aspects of his CTD professional career: his musical beginnings, teaching career, teaching of Tsonga traditional dances and his social and cultural heritage in the society. The key finding of this study was that Musisinyani distinguishes the humanity of others, which is Ubuntu philosophy. Music is power. It has power from within the composer. This is seen through the composer‘s confidence, assertiveness and motivation when composing songs. Music has the power to do; this is the listeners‘ choice. Through the power of music, people can gain skills; they may be productive and can network and be innovative. Music also has power over people, and the power to influence communities, thereby helping unite community members to work towards a common cause to achieve a common goal. It therefore gives communities strength and cohesion. As the community they have the power to challenge the status quo and to encourage one another. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.Mus.

Text in English / This case study of the Caravan Traditional Dance group profiles Musisinyani Mackson Mavunda‘s contribution to Tsonga music and dance performing arts. The lack of documentation of the work of Tsonga local traditional composers and choreographers is well-known in South Africa. This is echoed by Kidula (2006: 109), stating that ‗many studies from the continent have few outlets in the global academy, inasmuch as the work done by foreign researchers is barely known in much of Africa‘. A few years in the future, it will not be known who the composer of a certain song was, and what their intentions were in composing that particular song. Naturally the composers want to send a message to the community and sometimes to entertain the community or compose for a certain ritual. Composers need a considerable amount of planning and carefully chosen words, choreography and so on and this becomes apparent when taking into account the time and effort they put into composing a song. In response to this problem and by placing the composers‘ narratives at the centre, the study examines the role of the founder of the Caravan Traditional Dance group (CTD), Musisinyani Mackson Mavunda, and his contribution to Tsonga music and dance performing arts. This requires a critical examination of all aspects of his CTD professional career: his musical beginnings, teaching career, teaching of Tsonga traditional dances and his social and cultural heritage in the society. The key finding of this study was that Musisinyani distinguishes the humanity of others, which is Ubuntu philosophy. Music is power. It has power from within the composer. This is seen through the composer‘s confidence, assertiveness and motivation when composing songs. Music has the power to do; this is the listeners‘ choice. Through the power of music, people can gain skills; they may be productive and can network and be innovative. Music also has power over people, and the power to influence communities, thereby helping unite community members to work towards a common cause to achieve a common goal. It therefore gives communities strength and cohesion. As the community they have the power to challenge the status quo and to encourage one another. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M. Mus. (Musicology)

Anna Jagošová, Slovácký verbuňk v interpretaci dětských tanečníků Abstract The presented thesis deals with the phenomenon of the male solo dance otherwise known as "The Slovacko Verbunk" and its contemporary interpretations performed by child dancers. This phenomenon is a modern element of folklorism and can be observed Moravian Slovakia region in the past two decades. The main theme of the research and subsequent analysis is the form and performance of "Verbunk" by child dancers. Marginal attention is also paid to their own opinions and attitudes towards "Verbunk" as it is traditionally performed by adult male dancers. Moreover, the thesis deals with "Národní přehlídka dětských verbířů," roughly translated as "The National Exhibition of the Child Verbunk Dancer." This exhibition is organized in cooperation within The International Child Folklore Festival called "Kunovské léto" (The Summer of Kunovice) which has undoubtedly influenced the phenomenon of children reinterpreting "Verbunk" dance the most. The backbone of the thesis is a qualitative research based on interviews conducted mostly with the adults involved in the phenomenon - tutors and adult dancers of "Slovacko Verbunk," leaders of the children's folklore ensembles and the children's parents. The aim of this thesis is not only to describe the...