When Dickson Mwansa's The Cell was performed in Zambia in 1980 it won extraordinary applause and two substantial prizes. But approbation turned to disapproval when his production of his own play was on the point of going abroad to represent Zambian drama. In the article which follows Dickson Mwansa gives his own account of the rise and fall of The Cell. The author, who wrote the article in Ontario while doing a year's M. Ed. course, now teaches at the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Zambia.
Employing in-depth interviews, observations and involving a sample of 58 people (40 participants, 18 officials) over a period of 6 months, the study focused on one urban and one rural community to understand causes of uneven participation in literacy programmes. The findings were that men were shy about exposing their illiteracy, they were affected by patriarchal attitudes, felt proud about exposing their illiteracy, and feared making mistakes. Cultural barriers such as sex taboos, family relationships and perception of literacy as a female activity and leadership conflicts also constrained participation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.