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The Use of Historical Sources in Francophone African Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Gary Warner
Gary Warner
Affiliation:
French at McMaster University.
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Extract

As late as 1962 Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper made the following remark at Oxford about African history:

Perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach. But at the present time there is none; there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness… and darkness is not the subject of history.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1984 , pp. 180 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1984

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References

Notes

1. Quoted in Crowder, M., West Africa under Colonial Rule, Hutchinson, London, 1968, p. 10.Google Scholar

2. L'Unité Africaine, 28 avril 1966, pp. 6–7Google Scholar. This and subsequent translations are my own.

3. The plays named in the 1982 Drama seminar report were Ndao, Cheik's L' Exil d' AlbouriGoogle Scholar, Ka, Abdou Anta's Les AmazoulousGoogle Scholar, Ba, Thierno's Lat DiorGoogle Scholar, Niane, Djibril Tamsir's SikassoGoogle Scholar and Mbengue, Mamadou Seyni's Le procès de Lat Dior.Google Scholar

4. L' Education Africaine, janvier-mars 1934, pp. 45–8.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., janvier-mars 1923, p. 30.

6. Ibid., mars 1913, pp. 88–9.

7. Ibid., octobre–décembre 1931, pp. 11–14.

8. Ibid., janvier–mars 1935, pp. 16–18. The author of this article Mamby Sidibé, a historian and one of the early Ponty students, later reworked a version of the Sundiata epic, Soundiata au Mali, which was very well received in Mali. cf. Diawara, G., Panorama critique du théâtre malien dans son évolution, Dakar, 1981, p. 52.Google Scholar

9. L' Education Africaine, numéro spécial, 1937, p. 28Google Scholar. For a more contemporary account of Samori, see Person, Yves, ‘Guinea-Samori’, West African Resistance. The military Response to Colonial Occupation, edited by Crowder, Michael, Hutchinson, 1978 (new edition), pp. 111–43.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., janvier-mars 1934, p. 244.

11. cf. Traoré, Bakary, Le Théâtre négro-africain et ses fonctions sociales, Présence Africaine, Paris, 1958, pp. 100 sqqGoogle Scholar. For a dissenting view see Cornevin, R., ‘A propos de l'article de Gary A. Warner…’, Présence Francophone, no. 12, printemps 1976, pp. 181–3Google Scholar and Jukpor, B., ‘Le rôle de l'école William Ponty dans le développement du théâtre ouest-africain francophone’, Présence Francophone, no. 24, printemps 1982, pp. 47–64.Google Scholar

12. Dadié, B., Assémien Déhylé, CEDA Abidjan, 1979. Présentation de Nicole Vincileoni, pp. 14–21.Google Scholar

13. This sense of cultural pride was not always present as the following quotation from the pages of L' Education Africaine (juillet–sept. 1931, p. 26)Google Scholar illustrates: ‘… if I abhor my native customs, if I feel confused describing them, if I can hope to enjoy the benefits of European civilisation, I owe it to my teachers, I owe it to France. I cannot adequately express my gratitude.’

14. L' Education Africaine, numéro spécial, 1937, p. 28.Google Scholar

15. Cf. Diawara, G., op. cit., pp. 51–5Google Scholar. Jukpor's statements apply to these later reworked versions of the earlier Ponty plays (see note 11 ).

16. Notes from interviews with author, May–June 1974.

17. Omer-Cooper, J. D., ‘The Mfecane and the great trek’, Africa: The heritage and the challenge, 1974, pp. 113–28.Google Scholar

18. Cf. Monteil, V., ‘Le Dyolof et Albouri Ndyaye’, BIFAN, 3–4, 1966, pp. 615 sqq.Google Scholar

19. Burness, D., Shaka King of the Zulus in African Literature, Three Continents Press, Washington D.C., 1976, p. xiiGoogle Scholar. For a general discussion of the use of myth and history, see Thomas, L. V., ‘Temps, mythe et Histoire en Afrique de l'Ouest’, Présence Africaine, no. 39, 1961, pp. 12–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. Ibid., p. 82.

21. Chimpa Vita was baptized as Dona Béatrice. For a discussion of Dadié's selective use of historical elements in this play, see Smith, Robert P. Jr., ‘History and Tragedy in Dadié's Béatrice du Congo’, The French Review, LV, 81–2, pp. 818–23Google Scholar and Kotchy-Nguessan, H., ‘Sémiologie du temps et de l'espace’, Annales de l' Université d'Abidjan, Série D, tome 9, 1976, pp. 429–34.Google Scholar

22. Cf. Warner, G., ‘Technique dramatique et affirmation culturelle dans le théâtre de Bernard Dadié, Ethiopiques, vol. 1, no. 1, nouvelle série, 1983, pp. 53–70.Google Scholar

23. The arrest, of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o in 1977, the banning of a popular theatre performance in which over 200 villagers had participated and the eventual demolition of the 2000-seat open air theatre which the community had built, illustrate graphically how sensitive African governments are to drama when it involves the people directly in the representation of their lives and their aspirations. See Kidd, Ross, ‘Popular theatre and popular struggle in Kenya: The story of the Kamiirithu Community Educational and Cultural Centre’, IFDA Dossier 33, January/February 1983, pp. 18–29.Google Scholar

24. Maupoil, B., ‘Le théâtre dahoméen: les auteurs-acteurs de l'Ecole William Ponty’, Outre-Mer, no. 4, décembre 1937, pp. 301–18.Google Scholar

25. Kane, M., ‘L'actualité de la littérature africaine d'expression française’, Présence Africaine, numéro spécial, 1971, pp. 227–8.Google Scholar

26. Kane, M., ‘L'écrivain africain et son peuple’, Présence Africaine, no. 58, 1966, p. 26.Google Scholar