Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria
As an ethnical subgroup of Southeastern Nigeria, Afikpo has a cultural heritage that showcases its rich oral traditions and from where emerge its philosophy, mythology and religiosity. Sociological researches have unveiled the people’s ethnography and treated superficially their oral traditions. For...
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| 出版年: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht, |
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| フォーマット: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| 言語: | Anglais |
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Horizons/Théâtre
2021
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| オンライン･アクセス: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:ht_1583 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:ht_1583 https://doi.org/10.4000/ht.1583 urn:doi:10.4000/ht.1583 en https://journals.openedition.org/ht/1583 2021-09-11T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gtj1 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria Horizons/Théâtre Presses universitaires de Bordeaux info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2678-5420 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2261-4591 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht Oko Ajah, Richard masque Okumkpo engagement social tradition orale Afikpo Okumkpo Social commitment Oral tradition Afikpo Mask performance As an ethnical subgroup of Southeastern Nigeria, Afikpo has a cultural heritage that showcases its rich oral traditions and from where emerge its philosophy, mythology and religiosity. Sociological researches have unveiled the people’s ethnography and treated superficially their oral traditions. For example, Okumkpo community theatre prioritize its entertaining performance over its guided responsibility of community watchdog. From literary perspective that is built on some ideological and epistemological underpinnings of “théâtre engagé”, this study considers Okumkpo masquerade as a public theatre with social commitment. The masked major performer/character plays a role of a social commentator, critic and activist, thereby becoming a sacred actor who promotes moral growth and justice in Afikpo social space. It takes place in an open space called Ogo and it combines drama and dance, rhetoric and gestures, and humor and songs from. This work raises language and gender issues which, combined with the theatre’s ritualized performance, pose a threat to the survival of this oral tradition. Okumkpo’s risk of extinction is strongly premised on its gendered cast that makes its masked actors homogenously masculine with heterogenous public. This paper proposes that demythologization and partial feminization of Okumkpo masquerade would increase its cultural acceptability while the introduction of English and other international languages as its language of performance would enhance its eventual cultural commodification. En tant que sous-groupe ethnique du sud-est du Nigéria, Afikpo possède un patrimoine culturel qui met en valeur ses riches traditions orales et d’où émergent sa philosophie, sa mythologie et sa religiosité. Des études sociologiques ont interrogé l’ethnographie du peuple et traité superficiellement ses traditions orales. Par exemple, le théâtre communautaire d’Okumkpo donne ainsi la priorité à sa performance divertissante plutôt qu’à sa responsabilité artistique de critique communautaire. Dans une perspective littéraire basée sur des fondements idéologiques et épistémologiques du « théâtre engagé », cette étude considère la performance masquée d’Okumkpo comme un théâtre public avec engagement social. L’acteur/personnage principal masqué joue un rôle de commentateur social, critique et activiste, devenant ainsi un acteur sacré qui promeut la moralité et la justice dans l’espace social d’Afikpo. Il se déroule dans un espace public appelé Ogo et combine le drame et la danse, la rhétorique et les gestes, et l’humour et les chansons. Cet article soulève des questions de langue et de genre qui, combinées à la performance ritualisée du théâtre, constituent une menace pour la survie de cette tradition orale. Le risque d’extinction d’Okumkpo est fortement fondé sur son casting sexué qui rend ses acteurs masqués homogènes masculins avec un public hétérogène. Cette étude propose que la démythologisation et la féminisation partielle d’Okumkpo augmenteraient son acceptabilité culturelle tandis que l’introduction de l’anglais et d’autres langues internationales comme langue d’interprétation améliorerait son éventuelle marchandisation culturelle. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
masque Okumkpo engagement social tradition orale Afikpo Okumkpo Social commitment Oral tradition Afikpo Mask performance |
| spellingShingle |
masque Okumkpo engagement social tradition orale Afikpo Okumkpo Social commitment Oral tradition Afikpo Mask performance Oko Ajah, Richard Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| description |
As an ethnical subgroup of Southeastern Nigeria, Afikpo has a cultural heritage that showcases its rich oral traditions and from where emerge its philosophy, mythology and religiosity. Sociological researches have unveiled the people’s ethnography and treated superficially their oral traditions. For example, Okumkpo community theatre prioritize its entertaining performance over its guided responsibility of community watchdog. From literary perspective that is built on some ideological and epistemological underpinnings of “théâtre engagé”, this study considers Okumkpo masquerade as a public theatre with social commitment. The masked major performer/character plays a role of a social commentator, critic and activist, thereby becoming a sacred actor who promotes moral growth and justice in Afikpo social space. It takes place in an open space called Ogo and it combines drama and dance, rhetoric and gestures, and humor and songs from. This work raises language and gender issues which, combined with the theatre’s ritualized performance, pose a threat to the survival of this oral tradition. Okumkpo’s risk of extinction is strongly premised on its gendered cast that makes its masked actors homogenously masculine with heterogenous public. This paper proposes that demythologization and partial feminization of Okumkpo masquerade would increase its cultural acceptability while the introduction of English and other international languages as its language of performance would enhance its eventual cultural commodification. |
| author |
Oko Ajah, Richard |
| author_facet |
Oko Ajah, Richard |
| author_sort |
Oko Ajah, Richard |
| title |
Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| title_short |
Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| title_full |
Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| title_fullStr |
Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Okumkpo Masquerade Concert: Traditional Public Theatre and Social Commitment in Afikpo, Southeastern Nigeria |
| title_sort |
okumkpo masquerade concert: traditional public theatre and social commitment in afikpo, southeastern nigeria |
| publisher |
Horizons/Théâtre |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/ht.1583 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/ht/1583 |
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1877293463450419200 |