Theater as Praxis: Discursive Strategies in African Popular Theater

Abstract

Although over the last decade there has been a considerable growth in African theater research, the majority of such work has confined itself to the analysis of traditional theater practices or to that of contemporary literary theater. While acknowledging the functional dimensions of African theater, this research has focused on the aesthetics of African performance. When the social dimensions of theater have been evoked, they have been asserted mainly in terms of the propositional value of theatrical content. Playscripts have been analyzed for propositional claims and thematic concerns, and social critiques have then been constructed on such analyses. This essay presents an analysis distinct from that critical trend. It examines neither traditional theatrical practices nor contemporary literary theater but rather an ambiguous theatrical practice that can be labeled popular theater. The first section of the paper discusses the concept of the popular and suggests that it is best understood as a functional discourse which can legitimate or subvert the existing power structures of society. The second section focuses on the ideas of Paulo Freire, the Brazilian adult educator whose work provides the theoretical basis for most popular theater projects in Africa. The essay then analyzes the discursive construction of popular theater in various African contexts including Botswana, Zambia, and Nigeria. Through the history of popular theater in Africa, the paper shows the growth of popular theater theory. The last section, on the Kamiriithu production of Ngaahika Ndeenda, illustrates some of these theoretical claims.

Conceptualizing Alternative Theater and Alternative Performance Space in Postindependence Zimbabwe

“…According to Tony Bennett in Desai (1990, p. 66), popular theatre, as it is practized in Africa, ought to be thought of in relational and abstract terms, "as a site, always changing and variable in its constitution and organization." This is due to the fact that alternative theater is always an elusive, ever-changing, and discursive practice susceptible to sociopolitical and economic influence (Desai, 1990).…”

“…In other words, alternative theater can be best thought of as a normative discursive practice that engages in dialogues through theatrical practices. As Desai (1990) observes, alternative theater is never in an exclusively advantaged position, rather constantly negotiates and renegotiates its own articulations in the larger societal context as it challenges hegemony, domination, and the status quo. These negotiations, which are moderated by the materiality of the community, influence the esthetic approaches and processes as well as content development.…”

The State of Research on Performance in Africa

“…Of all the research on performance in Africa, those who have written on theater have been most sensitive to the politics of performance, that is, its role in nation-state building and creating national identities as well as its role in resistance and social change. 19 In many of these theaters of resistance, Paolo Freire's concept of a pedagogy of the oppressed (1970) and Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed (1979), itself based on Freire's seminal work, were instrumental (see Desai, 1990b). 20 Boal developed the idea of a problem-posing theater, termed "forum theater," that dialogizes audience and performers as a grass-roots approach to development.…”

“…See, for example, Horn (1980Horn ( , 1986, Gitau (1982), Mwansa (1982aMwansa ( , 1982b, Kidd (1983Kidd ( , 1984, Muronda (1983), Kavanagh (1985), Crehan (1986aCrehan ( , 1986bCrehan ( , 1987, Fiebach (1986), Barber (1987), July (1987), Richards (1987aRichards ( , 1987b, and Desai (1990bDesai ( , 1991. Freire's pedagogy rejected the authoritarian practice whereby the teacher is the sole carrier of knowledge and the student, the repository-what he called "banking" education-and in its place instituted "problem-posing" education generated through teacher/student interaction.…”