Question | Answer |
autochthonous | indigenous- plays tied to the land and region sprung from the earth
anansi the spider from ghana ijapa from nigeria |
diaspora | the movement of africans moving to america and the carribean, communities that begun because of this |
homowo(first fruits) festival | the Ga people of Ghana
homowo means jeering at hunger
harvest is a tradition that also ensures a good crop for the next year to come, mandatory to have every year |
animist | have multiple gods |
fallibility | gods make mistakes, ask forgiveness from humans not only the other way around can be wrong |
Ogun | Yoruba god of Iron and War and recently, innovation and technology
hacked between divide of realm of human and god with his iron a |
ashe | is life force of the yoruba people |
engungun masking | |
anthropomorphic | |
griot | -story tellers for important people, |
epic of son-jara(sunjata) | Mande people and the story from mali around 1240 a.d. |
written histories | present meaning as fixed and stable, no interpretation just facts |
storytelling | the meaning can be changeable and adaptive to the times |
Anansi the Spider | Originally from Ghana, the Akan people |
Nyame- | the supreme god of the Akan people |
morality tale | lesson learned at the end |
Characteristics of Trickster Figures | undermine the gods or other authorities
introduce elements of chaos into an ordered society
violate a society's sacred institutions and values |
2 sets of characters in trickster tales | trickster and neighbors, telling you to be like the neighbors |
Ijapa The Tortoise | From the Yoruba people in Nigeria |
Efua Sutherland | famous for orature
Mother of Ghanian Drama” |
orature | combo of oral tradition and literature |
mboguo | disruption of the story/improvisation |
Femi Osofisan | |
anansem | anansi + sem(story/issue/problem) |
anasegoro- | anansi+ gro(theatre/musical) |
Dilemma Tales | no clear cut lesson |
Metatheatre | no fourth wall |
Orunmila(Ifa) | Yoruba Orisha(God)
cowrie shells
God of oracles an pleads on behalf of mankind |
Olodumare | Supreme God) of Yoruba |
Esu (Eshu) | Yoruba Orisha (god)
God of paradox
“messenger” and “trickster” god |
fa( Orunmila) Divination Processions | supplicant goes to Ifa priest, tells problem, priest casts Kola shells, supplicant chooses the best phrase, priest tells him what to do, active role for supplicant |
total theatre | multi media production with dialogue, music, song, dance, color and spectacle |
First Generation | 1960's directly following independence
Ex. Wole Soyinka “The Strong Breed”
Nigerian |
Second Generation | 1970's followed a Marxist agenda but targeted the educated class
Ex. Femi Osofisan “Once Upon Four Robbers” NIgeria |
Scramble for Africa- | ivided Africa among the European colonies after slave trade ended |
Civil War | Biafran War
1967-1970:
in Nigeria-fight for political power between different groups and regimes |
SAP's | Structural Adjustment Programs
many restrictions and they require money to be invested in things like economy, not education |
Postcolonialism | attitude toward colonialism
doesn't mean “after colonialism” but rather the feeling of resentment |
afro-pessimism | the tendency to associate Africa only with ethnic conflict, war and disease |
Sango | Yoruba God of Lightning
god-king, only yoruba god to have formerly been a human |
Wole Soyinka | Series of ritual-centered plays
interested in rituals gone awry |
New Year Ritual | a way to rid the village of all its sins and wrongdoings and bad things that happen |
Ritual- | Presentational, presents a reality (process in the now) |
Drama | Representational- re-presents a reality(already happened) |
Phases of Ritual | Victor Turner
1-preliminal
2-liminal
3-postliminal |
Preliminal | (separation)- Creation of Sacred Space |
Liminal | transition)- Anti Structure |
Postliminal | (incorporation)- Re-integration in society |
fourth stage | compared to the liminal /anti structure stage
fourth stage is rituals |
Chthonic realm | abyss dividing gods from mortals |
tragedy | anguish of the severance humans feel being separated from gods |
Scapegoat | catalogues sins of people from old year
from the hebrew old testament |
obatala | yoruba god of creation has patience, was imprisoned by Sango |