A History of East African Theatre, Volume 2: Central East Africa

Description

This second volume of A History of East African Theatre focuses on central East Africa; on Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The first chapter is concerned with francophone theatres, comparatively studying work coming out of Burundi and Rwanda alongside a focus on French language theatre in Djibouti. The chapter is particularly concerned to explore how French and Belgian cultural policies impacted theatre during the colonial period and how the French ideas of Francafrique and promotion of elite, French language art have continued to resonate in the post-colonial present. Chapters Two and Three look comparatively at the rich theatre histories of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and are divided between a study of British East African colonial impact and an analysis of the post-colonial period illustrating how divergent political thought and societal make-up led to exponential differentiation in national theatres. The final chapter, on Theatre for Development and related social action theatre, covers the whole East African region, offering the first ever historicised analysis of this mode of theatre making which, since the 1980s, has come to dominate funding and opportunity in performance arts. Acknowledgements Contents Praise for A History of East African Theatre, Volume 2 List of Figures Preface 1 Francophone Theatre: Burundi, Djibouti and Rwanda The Historical Background to Burundi and Rwanda German Colonisation Belgian Power The Djiboutian Background The Influence of Francophone Thought on the Theatre Cultures of Burundi, Djibouti and Rwanda Rwanda and Burundi 1962–1994 Theatre Culture Between Independence and Genocide: 1962–1993/4 Djibouti, Post-Independence Political History French Language Theatre in Colonial Djibouti The Djboutian State and Contemporary Theatre French Language Djiboutian Playwrights Genocide and After: Contemporary Politics in Burundi and Rwanda Francophone or Anglophone? The Rwandan Politics of Language Contemporary Burundian Theatre Contemporary Rwandan Theatre Making Theatre Outside the State Theatre at the University Odile Gakire Katese Dorcy Rugamba References 2 Colonial Theatre in British East Africa: Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika East African Performance Forms Missionary Influences The Role of Education The Phelps Stokes Commission to East Africa The British Government Response The 1948 Cambridge Summer Conference The Jeanes School Makerere Schools’ Drama Festivals Indian Theatre in British East Africa European Theatre The Bantu Education Kinema Project and the Kapere Phenomenon African Playwrights in the Colonial Period References 3 The Post-Independence Theatres of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania Theatre in the First Years of Independence Uganda—The Theatrical Engine of the 1960s Ugandan Opera The Free Travelling Theatres The Committed Theatre: 1967–1982 Finding the Way Back to Africa: The Theatrical Journeys of Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Robert Serumaga Major Modern Movements The Leadership of Women: Amandina Lihamba, Penina Mlama and Rose Mbowa Popular Commercial Theatre in Uganda and Tanzania: 1970s–2000s Tanzanian Popular Performance: Negotiating Commerce and the Socialist State The Suppression of Football and the Rise of Popular Luganda Theatre in Uganda The Popular Theatre Plays Superstar Groups and the End of Mass Commercial Theatre The Schools Drama Festivals The Contemporary Theatre Kenya Tanzania Uganda References 4 Theatre for Development in East Africa Early Actions—The Idealists Early Theatre for Development in Tanzania Intimations of Corruption AIDS and Theatre for Development Adoption in Uganda How Kenya Took Up Theatre for Development The International Funding of Theatre for Development: 1980s to Early 2000s ‘Nfunira wa?’ ‘What Do I Gain from It?’ The ‘Business’ of Theatre for Development Trajectories of Theatre for Development in Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia/Somaliland Ethiopia: TfD—An Impossible Ask? Eritrean Theatre for Development: An Extinct Life Form Burundi Frédérique Lecomte Search for Common Ground Tubiyage Twenty-First-Century Case Studies Focus on Conflict and Post-Conflict Theatre for Development in Northern Uganda The Big Ones: Magnet Theatre and TUSEME Magnet Theatre: Kenya TUSEME—Tanzania (and Elsewhere) Community Actors in Tanzania and Uganda Community-Based Theatre in Tanzania Women’s Community Theatre in Uganda Funding Theatre for Development in the Twenty-First Century References Conclusion Reference Index