Fluidity and fixity of performer, audience and performing space

Authors

  • Angelus Mnenuka University of Dar es Salaam

Abstract

Abstract

 

Performance Theory is one of the theories which have by far removed
several inconsistencies and contradictions in analysing orature, notably
African orature. Unlike former theories which took texts as a basis in
interpreting orature, Performance Theory considers performance as a
socially situated aesthetic communication between the performer and
the audience both of whom participate in the process as active agents.
However, some of its notions are heavily influenced by western
theatre. Consequently, some conceptual details go unnoticed because,
instead of enriching the notions from the first-hand experience of the
African oral arts, western concepts are used instead. This paper seeks
to challenge some of the performance conceptual axioms by showing
aspects that were taken for granted. Most of the concepts, particularly
performer, audience and performance space (stage) were for quite a
long time treated as separate fundamental performance entities. In this
paper, I attempt to refute these truisms and instead argue that, in
practice, these notions are fluid except for only a few of them. A wide
variety of examples are given to testify arguments put forward. The
paper concludes by emphasising that African orature genres are more
characterised by fluidity and only a few of them are really fixed. In
addition, some elements of African orature performances are
ephemeral and sometimes unexpected.

References

References

Alexandre, P., 1974. Introduction to a Fang oral art genre: Gabon and Cameroon

Mvet. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, In Memory

of W. H. Whiteley 37, 1 €“7.

Bascom, W., 1973a. Folklore and the Africanist. Journal of American Folklore 253 €“

Bascom, W., 1973b. Folklore, verbal art, and culture. Journal of American Folklore

€“381.

Bascom, W.R., 1955. Verbal art. Journal of American Folklore 245 €“252.

Bascom, W.R., 1953. Folklore and anthropology. Journal of American Folklore

€“290.

Bateson, G., 2006. A theory of play and fantasy. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press,

Cambridge.

Bauman, R., 2012. Performance, in: Bendix, R., Hasan-Rokem, G. (Eds.), A

Companion to Folklore, Blackwell Companions to Anthropology.

Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp. 93 €“118.

Bauman, R., 2011. Commentary: Foundations in performance. Journal of

Sociolinguistics 15, 707 €“720.

Bauman, R., 2004. A world of others ' words: cross-cultural perspectives on

intertextuality. Blackwell Pub, Malden, MA.

Bauman, R., 1992. Performance, in: Bauman, R. (Ed.), Folklore, Cultural

Performances, and Popular Entertainments: A Communications-Centered

Handbook. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 41 €“49.

Angelus Mnenuka

UMMA, Volume 1, 2020

Bauman, R., 1989. American folklore studies and social transformation: A

performance-centred perspective. Text and Performance Quarterly 9, 175 €“

Bauman, R. (Ed.), 1984. Verbal art as performance, reissued. ed. Waveland Press,

Prospect Heights, Illinois.

Bauman, R., Briggs, C.L., 1990. Poetics and performance as critical perspectives on

language and social life. Annual review of Anthropology 19, 59 €“88.

Ben-Amos, D., 1971. Toward a definition of folklore in context. Journal of

American Folklore 3 €“15.

Burke, K., 1969. A rhetoric of motives. Univ of California Press.

Diawara, M., 1997. Mande oral popular culture revisited by the electronic media.

Readings in African Popular Culture 40 €“48.

Finnegan, R., 2012. Oral literature in Africa. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge.

Finnegan, R., 2004. Oral literature: issues of definition and terminology. African

Folklore an Encyclopedia.

Finnegan, R.H., 1992. Oral poetry: its nature, significance, and social context, 1st

Midland Book ed. ed. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Goffman, E., 1986. Frame analysis: an essay on the organization of experience,

Northeastern University Press ed. ed. Northeastern University Press,

Boston.

Goffman, E., 1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. University of

Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre, Edinburgh.

Gossen, G.H., 1984. Chamula genres of verbal behavior, in: Verbal Art as

Performance. Waveland Press, Illinois, pp. 181 €“115.

Gunner, E., 1986. A dying tradition? African oral literature in a contemporary

context 1. Social Dynamics 12, 31 €“38.

Johnson, J.W., 1980. Yes, Virginia, there is an epic in Africa. Research in African

Literatures. Special Issue on Genre and Classification in African Folklore

, 308 €“326.

Fluidity and fixity of performer, audience and performing space

UMMA, Volume 1, 2020 53

Kerr, D., 1988. Theatre and social issues in Malawi: performers, audiences,

aesthetics. New Theatre Quarterly 4, 173-180.

Lord, A.B., 1971. The singer of tales, College Edition. Atheneum, New York.

Mnenuka, A., 2019. Online performance of swahili orature: the need for a new

category? Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies 5, 274 €“297.

Mnenuka, A., 2012. Methali na misemo katika mitandao ya kijamii ya

kielektroniki: dhana na matumizi. Kiswahili: Jarida la Taasisi ya Taaluma

za Kiswahili 75, 75 €“103.

Mnenuka, A.J., 2017. Exploring modernity in African orature: the Bena case study.

PhD Thesis, University of Leipzig, Leipzig.

Mulokozi, M.M., 2017. Utangulizi wa fasihi ya Kiswahili: kozi za fasihi vyuoni na

vyuo vikuu. KAUTTU, Dar es Saalam.

Mulokozi, M.M., 2002. The African epic controversy: historical, philosophical and

aesthetic perspectives on epic poetry and performance. Mkuki na Nyota

Publ, Dar es Salaam.

Noss, P.A., 2006. Gbaya riddles in changing times. Research in African Literatures

, 34 €“42.

Okpewho, I., 1992. African oral literature: backgrounds, character, and continuity.

Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Omari, S., 2009. Tanzanian hip hop poetry as popular literature. Ph.D. Thesis,

University of Dar es Salaam.

Ong, W.J., 2002. Orality and literacy the technologizing of the word. Routledge,

London; New York.

Seydou, C., 1983. The African epic: a means for defining the genre. Folklore

Forum 16, 47 €“68.

Smith, J.D., 1977. The Singer or the song? a reassessment of lord ' s "oral theory."

Man, New Series 12, 141 €“153.

Smith, M.W., 1959. The importance of folklore studies to anthropology. Folklore

, 300 €“312.

Angelus Mnenuka

UMMA, Volume 1, 2020

Spencer, J.S., 1990. Storytelling theatre in Sierra Leone: the example of Lele

Gbomba. New Theatre Quarterly 6, 349 €“356.

Thiong ' o, N. wa, 1997. Enactments of power: the politics of performance space.

TDR (1988-) 41, 11 €“30. https://doi.org/10.2307/1146606

Thompson, S., 1951. Folklore at midcentury. Midwest Folklore 1, 5 €“12.

Thompson, S., 1940. Folklore and literature. Publications of the Modern Language

Association of America 866 €“874.

Toit, B.M.D., 1966. Riddling traditions in an isolated South African community.

The Journal of American Folklore 79, 471 €“475.

Utley, F.L., 1961. Folk literature: An operational definition. Journal of American

Folklore 193 €“206.

Vansina, J., 1985. Oral tradition as history. University of Wisconsin Press,

Madison, Wis.

Downloads

Published

2022-07-14