CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Nyimbili, Suzyika |
|---|---|
| Title | Performing Arts and Cultural Production in Post-Colonial Zambia: A Look at Theatre and Traditional Dance |
| Summary | In this study, I collect memories of the development of Zambian theatre (including traditional dance) in post-colonial Zambia. I look at the role of theatre in nation building and the extent to which motifs of pre-colonial performance genres were incorporated into Zambian theatre. I mainly use oral interviews, desktop research, and social media observational research. For the oral interviews, I talked to former actors, writers, producers, researchers, and other individuals connected to theatre and performance in Zambia. I also interviewed ordinary members of the community. Through the oral interviews, I have collected memories of Zambian theatre in the years before and after independence. This collection will be packaged in a form that can be preserved, as it is an aspect of Zambian theatre heritage and cultural history. In this study, I discuss the introduction of Western theatre and the building of theatres known as “Little Theatres” which became “citadels” of European cultural expression. Although this type of theatre was also introduced to indigenous Zambians, what seems to have become more prominent were the indigenous forms of performance (local theatre forms), especially dances, which came to be known as township dances. In the years following independence, there were contestations between European theatre promoters and indigenous Zambians who wanted to make use of theatre, including performance spaces (like theatres) that were previously a preserve of Europeans settlers, as avenues of cultural expression. I argue that though theatre by indigenous Zambia’s may have played a central role in the national building agenda of the post-colonial Zambian government, it was traditional dance that most indigenous Zambians seem to have identified with more. Though there were experiments to fuse traditional forms of performance and western-style theatre, the two seem to have developed independently and continue to do so to this day. |
| Supervisor | Spät, Eszter |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/nyimbili_suzyika.pdf |
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