Cane,
Corn & Gulley is a genealogical and autobiographical collection which unites
dance and poetry to observe, question and ruminate on what it means to adopt,
perform, and pass down the notion of black West Indian femininity. Using
labanotation and rhythm to analyse movement from Caribbean dances to movements
carried out in everyday rituals, Kinshasa uses these motifs as a form of
cartography for the poems.
Cane,
Corn & Gulley interrogates survival, sexual exploitation, race, gender,
and class and invests in a unique discourse on the violence inflicted on the
black female body (historically and presently). It explores the meaning of
movement in oppressive ideological structures and serves to vindicate the
rebellious acts of black women past, present and yet to come.