More Than Mere Story-Telling: the pedagogical significance of African ritual theatre

Abstract

To a large extent modern scholarship has tended to treat Africans as a people with no sound tradition of drama or theatre. Even some examples of African oral performance are regarded as simply quasi-dramatic phenomena. This article argues that there is an African theatre tradition which has its own distinct performance aesthetics. Because this theatre is closely linked to the African people's humanistic philosophy, it functions as an indispensable medium of social, cultural, mental and emotional edification. The article searches for an alternative theatrical pedagogy from selected features of African theatre, such as audience participation, role playing and symbolic dance, which can possibly be applied to the current field of theatre-in-education.

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