Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Obituaries
- Introduction by Yvette Hutchison
- Looking for ‘Eritrea's Past Property’ (1947)
- Seeking the Founding Father
- Medieval Morality & Liturgical Drama in Colonial Rhodesia
- Contesting Constructions of Cultural Production in & through Urban Theatre in Rhodesia, c. 1890–1950
- ‘Don't Talk into my Talk’
- The Leaf & the Soap (‘Bí ewé bá pẹ́. l'ara ọṣẹ, á di ọṣẹ ’)
- The Representation of Khoisan Characters in Early
- Images of Africa in Early Twentieth-Century British Theatre
- The First African Play: Fabula Yawreoch Commedia & its influence on the development of Ethiopian Theatre
- Translator's Note
- Playscript
- Book Reviews
- Index
Contesting Constructions of Cultural Production in & through Urban Theatre in Rhodesia, c. 1890–1950
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Obituaries
- Introduction by Yvette Hutchison
- Looking for ‘Eritrea's Past Property’ (1947)
- Seeking the Founding Father
- Medieval Morality & Liturgical Drama in Colonial Rhodesia
- Contesting Constructions of Cultural Production in & through Urban Theatre in Rhodesia, c. 1890–1950
- ‘Don't Talk into my Talk’
- The Leaf & the Soap (‘Bí ewé bá pẹ́. l'ara ọṣẹ, á di ọṣẹ ’)
- The Representation of Khoisan Characters in Early
- Images of Africa in Early Twentieth-Century British Theatre
- The First African Play: Fabula Yawreoch Commedia & its influence on the development of Ethiopian Theatre
- Translator's Note
- Playscript
- Book Reviews
- Index
Summary
In this article I attempt to analyse three urban African performances; Nyawo, the tea party, and Beni. I employ the socio-historical analysis model which attempts to understand the relationship between the field of cultural production and the field of power. Historically the ascendancy to power of the bourgeoisie in Western Europe facilitated the assimilation of its culture and taste by virtually all of Western civil society. Colonisation in Rhodesia (in its blue print form) intended to use the same principle of extending English rulership and influence with the goal of transforming Rhodesia to be like the metropolitan state in manifesting the nature and will of the English in lifestyle, actions, activities and culture. As evidenced by the nature of these urban African performances, domination does not necessarily result in absolute collaboration. Rhodesian discourse was both collaborated with and resisted by African cultural producers. I look at this element of collaboration and resistance through Ranajit Guha's (1997) frame of the articulation of power where domination implies subordination. In the case of colonial administrations, coercion seems to outweigh persuasion in the articulation of domination thereby denying absolute assimilation of colonial culture by Africans as was the case of civil society in Western Europe.
Rhodesian discourse and power
According to Michel Foucault (1976) discourse is an institutionalised way of thinking that intrinsically erects a cordon to define what can be written, performed or said about a specific topic. In theorising about the discourse on language, Foucault (1976) argues that the production of discourse is controlled, selected, organised and redistributed according to clearly defined procedures.
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- Information
- Histories 1850–1950 , pp. 53 - 71Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010