Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 5(4), pp. 303 - 310
DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050404
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Three Faiths, Two Continents, One Island: Creating the Dances of São Tomé

Robert Garfield ^*
Department of History, DePaul University, United States

ABSTRACT

The island of São Tomé, located in the Gulf of Guinea off the west-central coast of Africa, has been the site of a broad cultural syncretism, especially regarding dance. The dances of São Tomé are a mixture of European. African and Jewish roots are unique to the island. The major dance forms are known as Tchiloli, Danço Congo, and Sócópé [or Ússua]. This paper traces the settlement of São Tomé by Portuguese (mostly the unwanted of Lisbon), Jewish exiles, and African slaves. Each group brought its own cultural practices to the island, where they blended in the small, isolated environment, and continued to evolve over the centuries, eventually incorporating 20th/21st Century costuming, instruments and movement.

KEYWORDS
São Tomé, Dances, Judaism, African Culture, History

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Robert Garfield , "Three Faiths, Two Continents, One Island: Creating the Dances of São Tomé," Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 303 - 310, 2017. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050404.

(b). APA Format:
Robert Garfield (2017). Three Faiths, Two Continents, One Island: Creating the Dances of São Tomé. Sociology and Anthropology, 5(4), 303 - 310. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2017.050404.