Cover Texts Bayreuth African Studies 31 - 40
Bayreuth African Studies 31
Eckhard Breitinger (ed.)
Theatre and Performance in Africa
Theatre for Development, popular theatre, and musical performance describe
the social and political implications of cultural practice; production analyses of
recent plays, semiotic analyses of masquerades or ritual drama explore the aesthetics
of performative arts in Africa. Radical change in South Africa or democratisation elsewhere
in Africa seek expression expression in contemporary theatre, popular song, and even state
controlled television.
Scholars and theatre practitioners from East, West, South Africa and from Europe reveal the
regional, artistic and political diversity of Theatre and Performance in Africa.
"An important resource for all concerned with African theatre" - Martin Banham in
Theatre Research International
Eckhard Breitinger taught in the Caribbean and several African universities. Besides his
scholarly publications, he is also known for his translations, his radio essays and as a
theatre photographer.
"presents an excellent array of texts, good to pass on to students and
colleagues" - Gaurav Desai in Research in African Literature (RAL) (USA)
"an important resource for all concerned with African Theatre" - Martin
Banham in Theatre Research International (UK)
"The 15 choice essays reflect how the differences between absolutism and melange are
being negotiated through dramatic idioms today." - Femi Abodunrin in West
Africa (UK, 26 Sept. - 2 Oct. 1994)
Bayreuth African Studies 32
Derek Wright
The Novels of Nuruddin Farah
Derek Wright's revised introduction to Nuruddin Farah's novels covers the entire
fictional œuvre from the early narratives to his latest novel Secrets (1998) and also the recent
non-fictional book on Somali refugees.
The main focus is on two trilogies, the Dictatorship trilogy's investigation of the family as
microcosm of the state and vehicle of political repression and, in the second trilogy, the
weavening of fables of Somali national identity from the Ogaden war, international relief and
the Somali crisis of the 1990s. Farah's novels explore the ways in which indigenous traditions
are implicated in postcolonial totalitarianism, showing how Western individualist values are
both liberating and disabling, and how oral traditions can be both reactionary and
revolutionary.
Nuruddin Farah is presented as a multi-literate writer with access to many literary cultures -
Somali orature, Arabic and Islamic writing, Western modernism and postmodernism - and as a
pioneering feminist among African novelists.
"a landmark in the criticism of the African novel"
Jacqueline Bardolph in Research in African Literatures
"Readers of Farah are in Wright's debt for his research"
Reed Way Dasenbrock in World Literature Today
Derek Wright taught for thirty years at colleges and universities in Britain, Africa and
Australia. He is the author of over a hundred essays and articles and has published ten books,
including Ayi Kwei Armah's Africa: The Sources of His Fiction (1989), Wole Soyinka
Revisited (1993), New Directions in African Fiction (1997) and Contemporary
African Fiction (ed., 1997).
Bayreuth African Studies 33
Janos Riesz & Helene d'Almeida-Topor (eds.)
Echanges Franco-Allemands sur l'Afrique
Cet ouvrage est le fruit d'une coopération pluridisciplinaire entre les
universités de Bayreuth et de Paris VII dans le domaine des études africanistes.
Ces contributions, issues de trois tables-rondes, ont porté sur diverses parties de
l'Afrique sub-saharienne: de la Namibie à la Tanzanie, de la Sierra Leone a la "Grande
Ile" de Madagascar, du Mali au Cameroun. Des historiens, géographes, sociologues et
urbanistes, des linguistes et des littéraires, des spécialistes de l'Islam et des
économistes ont traité de thèmes allant de l'histoire précoloniale aux interrogations
actuelles et décisives pour la politique de développement: répartition des sols,
alimentation et santé.
Ces recherches s'étendent de la "gestion paysanne" à la "solidarité internationale".
Bayreuth African Studies 34
Ernest Beyaraza
Contemporary Relativism with Special Reference to Culture and Africa
Contemporary relativism is an issue in vogue and a force to reckon with.
This work associates relativism with subjectivism and critical metaphysics which, on
the basis of "association of ideas" rather than "matters of fact" (Hume), avail us with
the reality purely concomitant to human creativity. Culture is viewed as part and parcel
of that reality. Hence, critical metaphysics is taken as a platform from which concepts
of both culture and Africa are examined.
The work defends culture in Africa, but also demonstrates cultural dependence,
retardation, distortion, and even death, and then argues for cultural recovery and
independence without which the flag of independence remains a mockery and a dream.
Culture is conceived if not as a dead museum piece but as a living reality of the people.
Bayreuth African Studies 35
Marion Frank
Aids-Education Through Theatre. Case Studies from Uganda
Governments and non-governmental organisations search for effective means
of communication to improve health awareness and to control the spreading of AIDS. The
movement Artists Against AIDS presents various forms of cultural communication from
traditional folk-structures through pop-music to mime, dance and theatre.
The analysis of AIDS campaigns and the Ugandan cultural festival AIDS-Quake provide
insight into the sociopolitical set-up of AIDS-Aid and the role of the committed artist
and the art work in that context.
"an excellent introduction for any one entering the field being concise and very well
documented." - Chris Dunton in West Africa (UK, 22 - 28 Jan. 1996)
Bayreuth African Studies 36
Eckhard Breitinger and Rose Mbowa (eds.)
Theatre for Development
(In Cooperation with GtZ and Ministry of Health)
Critics, theatre practitioners, community workers and public health
administrators have joined forces to discuss the principles of communication through
theatre, of health education and to present case studies from an AlDS-control programme.
The book is illustrated with fullsized colour photographs from rural and urban Theatre
for Development activities.
Bayreuth African Studies 37
Cristiana Pugliese
Author, Publisher and Gikuyu Nationalist: The Life and Writings of Gakaara wa Wanjau
Ngugi wa Thiong'o drew international critical attention to writing in African
languages. Gakaara preceeded Ngugi as a writer, a political activist and detainee for the
cause of Gikuyu language, literature, and culture.
As a writer, educationist, editor, and publisher Gakaara advocated a language policy that
made him politically suspect before and after independence Gakaara's novels and short
stories are presented here in wider political context of colonialism and neo-colonialism
in Kenya.
"Cristiana Pugliese's presentation of Gakaara wa Wajau is admirable. It is deep,
analytical and well researched, documenting one of Kneya's unacknowledged giants in the
world of letters." - Hinga wa Wanjiru in The People (Kenya June 14-20, 1996)
"Le travail de Cristiana Pugliese veritablement le modele du type d'étude qu'il
faudrai realiser sur beaucoup de langues africaines" - Alain Ricard in Politique
Africaine (Bordeaux, 1996)
Bayreuth African Studies 38
Cecilia Namulondo Nganda
Primary Education and Social Integration. Ethnic Stereotypes in the Uganda Basic Text
Books
Multi-ethnic Uganda faces a crucial problem in her educational policy: should
national unity and national culture be emphasised or should the richness of national culture
be seen in ethnic and cultural diversity. Textbooks used in schools are of prime importance
in this context. What kind of images of otherness do they project? What concepts of ethnic
diversity and specificity do textbooks promote? Do they direct the minds of schoolchildren
towards the formation of ethnic stereotypes or are they made to see the validity of the
culture of other ethnic groups than their own?
This book takes stock of the present situation in Ugandan primary education.
Bayreuth African Studies 39
Eckhard Breitinger (ed.)
Uganda: The Cultural Landscape
Until the late 60s, Uganda and its Makerere University were the intellectual
centre of East Africa. The Obote and Amin dictatorships ruined the country and its
literary reputation. Cultural activities continued inspite of political terror and civil
war, but were largely ignored by critics. This collection of essays presents an overview
of the Ugandan cultural landscape in its historical development and cultural diversity.
The essays deal with oral literatures, with classical writers like Okot p'Bitek or Robert
Serumaga, popular, educative and art theatre as well as the creative output in prose,
poetry and fine arts.
"Breitinger has done Isis work... gathered and remembered the scattered fragments
- a rediscovered Rosetta stone" - Peter Nazareth in World Literature Today
(USA)
"Das Buch ist gleichzeitig in Uganda und Deutschland erschienen und garantiert auch
in Uganda Aufmerksamkeit... Damit wird verhindert, dass der Diskurs über afrikanische
Themen - wie sonst leider üblich - ganz im europäischen Umfeld bleibt." - Rainer
Epp in Initiative Pro Afrika (Januar 2000)
"Material about Uganda's modern cultural, artistic, and literary trends are hard to
find... an attempt has at last been made by these 15 writers... Uganda: The Cultural
Landscape is a joy to read" - Deogratias Byabafumu in The New Vision
(Kampala/Uganda 27 Apr. 2001)
"les caracteristiques de la littérature ougandaise, l'expérience d'une histoire tragique ont
forcé les auteurs et chercheurs à se mettre respectueusement à l'écoute des populations de ce
pays. L'avoir compris et avoir réussi à composer un ouvrage collectif sur telles bases est à
mettre au credit du Pr. Eckhard Breitinger et de l'équipe de chercheurs réuni pour ce
travail." - Michel Naumann in Etudes littéraires Africaines 14 (2002)
Bayreuth African Studies 40
Olu Obafemi
Contemporary Nigerian Theatre
Olu Obafemi writes as a theory-oriented scholar with the inside knowledge
of the playwright and director about the post-Soyinkan generation of Nigerian dramatists
and their origins in popular Yoruba theatre. He draws a comprehensive picture of the
intricate network between the old hands of popular theatre, Duro Ladipo, Hubert Ogunde,
Baba Sala, the modern interpreters of traditional culture, J. P. Clark and Ola Rotimi and
the later writers Bode Sowande, Femi Osofisan and Tess Onwueme.
Olu Obafemi presents a complete theatrical history of Nigeria in the 70s and 80s.
"Obafemi knows his subject very well and his passion for theatre is in no
doubt" - Osita Okagube in African Theatre (UK)
"Pourqui cette confrontation entre Soyinka et des jeunes auteurs comme Osofisan et Omotoso?
Olu Obafemi le montre clairement... un ouvrage clair, bien organisé, agréablement écrit où -
rare qualité - le profane sera aussi à l'aise que le spécialist." - Michel Naumann in
Etudes littéraires Africaines 14 (2002)
