Juba-Sanctuary

EHFA 136

Juba, a Black August performance was an homage to the ancestors, a performativity and a dialectic. Randle Holme described plant tassels, "Rice…beareth a seed in a sparsed juba, or tuft" (1688). From Sierra Leone, to Charleston to Milwaukee, we celebrate rice culture, Africana indigenous knowledge and skill at the hearth. Juba, or 'to juber', an ecstatic syncopated West African jig marked by hand, knee and thigh slapping with stomping of feet on the floor. From Juba comes jubilee; a release. A season of rejoicing and celebration. In conversation with Fo Wilson's Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities, Juba—Sanctuary affords a moment to juba; to jubilee. Safe haven. August 20, 2019 will be the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of "20 odd Negros" landing in the Jamestown, Virginia colony as enslaved. Contemplate along with the Jazzy Jewels the freedom mythos writ into the construction of this nation; yet not for all. Women, as caregivers, mothers, cooks, and maids are often not at liberty, although ostensibly free. This performance sung and spoken renders quotidian women's work visible in plain sight. This essay and presentation documents the connection between African and African-American rice culture expressed during the performance at Lynden Sculpture Garden during Barton's residency this summer.