Queens' diaspora

Abstract

This article examines Fela!, the Broadway show about Nigerian musical icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997). Anchored by interviews conducted with its cast members, critical viewings of the musical, and a consideration of Kuti's performance repertoire, it reads Fela! through the terms of dance, diaspora, and sexuality. The Queens - Kuti's performance collaborators and wives - raise important questions about movement, nation-making, and authenticity. Rather than the Queens' dance serving as a sign of inherent African female sexuality, this article argues that their movement represents the efficacy of dance to constitute national identities, in spite of being undergirded by a cultural hybridity that characterizes African diasporic expressive cultures.