University of Pittsburgh

Department of Africana Studies

Faculty

Yolanda Covington-Ward

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

Yolanda Covington-Ward

Contact

Office: WWPH 4150
Phone: 412-648-7556
E-mail: ydc1@pitt.edu

Qualifications

BA, Afro-American Studies (with Honors), Brown University
MA, Anthropology, University of Michigan
PhD, Anthropology, University of Michigan

Areas of Specialization

Yolanda Covington-Ward is an anthropologist whose scholarly interests revolve around performance, group identity, the embodiment of religion and history, and everyday negotiations of power and authority. Her dissertation, “Embodied Histories, Danced Religions, and Performed Politics: Kongo Cultural Performance and the Production of History and Authority” (2008) was based on a year of ethnographic research in the Democratic Republic of Congo and six and a half weeks of archival research in Belgium. Her study examines two types of embodied cultural performances, makinu—Kongo dances—and bimpampa—Kongo body gestures, to investigate changes and continuities from the late fifteenth century to the present in the ways that the Kongo people both represent cultural memories and social values through cultural performances, and use these same performances to create, confirm, and contest political and religious authority. Dr. Covington-Ward is currently revising her dissertation for publication as a book. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Covington-Ward teaches Introduction to Africana Studies, Women of Africa and the African Diaspora, Cultures of Africa, and looks forward to teaching other courses on performance in Africa.

Selected Honors/Recognitions

Selected Publications/Productions/Research

Yolanda Covington-Ward. “Africanist Research in the Archive of the American Baptist Historical Society” (Submitted for Review).

Yolanda Covington-Ward. Book Review of “White Men’s God.” Journal of Religion in Africa. (Forthcoming, 2009).

Yolanda Covington-Ward. Book Review Essay: “Danced Nations, Performed Identities: Ethnographic Perspectives on Power and Performance in Africa.” Transforming Anthropology (Forthcoming).

Yolanda Covington-Ward. “Threatening Gestures, Immoral Bodies: The Intersection of Church, State, and Kongo Performance in the Belgian Congo,” In Missions, States, and European Expansion in Africa. Chima Korieh and Raphael Njoku, eds. New York: Routledge Press. Pg 73-100. (April 2007).

Yolanda Covington-Ward. “South Bronx Performances: The Reciprocal Relationship between Hip-Hop and Black Girls’ Play.” Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. Volume 16, No. 1 (March 2006): 117-132.

Yolanda Covington-Ward. 2006. Contributor to Thinking Like an Anthropologist by John Omohundro (Quiz Content for the student edition of the Online Learning Center Web Site).

Yolanda Covington-Ward. 2004. Contributor to Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity (11th edition) by Conrad Phillip Kottak (Video Supplemental Texts and Classroom Performance System Texts for Instructor Resource CD-Rom).

Yolanda Covington. Book Review of “Performing Africa.” African Studies Quarterly: (Spring 2004):50-51.

Recent Conference Papers

November, 2008 San Francisco, California American Anthropological Association National Conference Title of Paper: Revelations and Ritual, Purity and Danger: White Cloth and Spiritual Power in the DMNA Church

March, 2008 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Black Humanities Collective Conference Title of Paper: Performing Kongo Pride: Cultural Performances Transforming Modern Society

May, 2007 University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Joint American Ethnological Society/Canadian Anthropological Society Conference Title of Paper: “The Angels Sing with Us”: Trembling Hands, Christian Hearts, and Dancing for Nzambi in the Congo

November, 2006 Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, CA International Conference of the African Studies Association Title of Paper: “Dumuka mu Mvita! (Jump into the fight!): Bundu dia Kongo and the Restoration of the Kongo Kingdom

Ongoing Research

“Sullying the Dress of Angels: White Cloth, Gender and Routinization in a Kongo Church” (In progress)

“Transformational Dances, Shifting Identities: The Grand March in Liberia and the Liberian Diaspora” (In progress)

“Your Name is Written in the Sky: Unearthing the Stories of Kongo Female Prophets” (In Progress)

"Kongo Dances, Old World and New" (In Progress)

Public Service (National/International) 

Professional Affiliations

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement.

Our Mission is The study, research, interpretation, and dissemination of knowledge concerning African American, African, and Caribbean affairs and culture.