Karin Barber, John Collins, Alain Ricard West African Popular Theatre

Annotation

" . . . a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature . . . " -Research in African Literatures"Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." -Leeds African Studies Bulletin"A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " -Margaret Drewal"A fine book. The play texts are treasures." -Richard BaumanAfrican popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.