"... a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature... " ―Research in African Literatures
"Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." ―Leeds African Studies Bulletin
"A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " ―Margaret Drewal
"A fine book. The play texts are treasures." ―Richard Bauman
African popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.

West African Popular Theatre (Drama and Performance Studies)

Barber, Karin

Ricard, Alain

COLLINS, John.

Humor & Entertainment

Indiana University Press

NEW CATALOG COPY (announcing paperback edition): In The Generation of Plays, Karin Barber recounts the history of the Odin Adéjobi Theater Company and uncovers the pulse points of generation, production, and improvisation that merge when a Yorùbá popular drama is brought to the stage. This rich and detailed book opens a window into the social and cultural worlds of actors and audiences.
ORIGINAL CATALOG COPY: "Karin Barber has given us a vivid picture of one of the most vital forms of modern African popular art. It is beautifully written and informed by a deep affection for the subject.... a major contribution to the cultural history of Nigeria." ―J. D. Y. Peel
From the 1940s to the 1980s, Yoruba popular theater was one of the most spectacularly successful theaters in Africa. Today, these traveling companies have virtually disappeared, largely as a result of economic hardship and the rise of video entertainment. In The Generation of Plays, Karin Barber recounts the history of the Oyin Adejobi Theatre company. Drawing on archival sources as well as extensive interviews and transcriptions of plays, Barber uncovers the pulse points of generation, production, and improvisation that merge when a Yoruba popular drama is brought to the stage. Barber reveals the personalities of the principal actors, how plays are created―from the germ of an idea through the logistics of rehearsal and staging―how a play is made meaningful to its audience, and how a play changes and develops after several productions or according to the sensibilities of its viewers. The expansion of popular drama into television is also considered. This rich and detailed narrative illuminates notions of gender, language, politics, and self as they are expressed in popular cultural forms. It affords a unique view of the social and cultural perspectives of the actors and audiences involved in what was a flourishing and vital enterprise.

The Generation of Plays: Yoruba Popular Life in Theater

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

This text provides a  view from below  on the new forms of theatre in West Africa. Throughout, the voices of the theatre practitioners are heard, reminiscing, explaining, philosophizing and grumbling. Their personalities come across vividly, and their views play a vital role. North America: Indiana University Press

West African Popular Theatre (Drama & Performance)

Ricard, Alian

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Yoruba popular theater was one of the most spectacularly successful theaters in Africa. Today, these traveling companies have virtually disappeared, largely as a result of economic hardship and the rise of video entertainment. In The Generation of Plays, Karin Barber recounts the history of the Oyin Adejobi Theatre company. Drawing on archival sources as well as extensive interviews and transcriptions of plays, Barber uncovers the pulse points of generation, production, and improvisation that merge when a Yoruba popular drama is brought to the stage. Barber reveals the personalities of the principal actors, how plays are created (from the germ of an idea through the logistics of rehearsal and staging), how a play is made meaningful to its audience, and how a play changes and develops after several productions or according to the sensibilities of its viewers. This rich and detailed narrative illuminates notions of gender, language, politics, and self as they are expressed in a popular cultural form.

History

Africa

The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (New Departures in Anthropology)

What can texts - both written and oral - tell us about the societies that produce them? How are texts constituted in different cultures, and how do they shape societies and individuals? How can we understand the people who compose them? Drawing on examples from Africa and other countries, this original study sets out to answer these questions, by exploring textuality from a variety of angles. Topics covered include the importance of genre, the ways in which oral genres transcend the here-and-now, and the complex relationship between texts and the material world. Barber considers the ways in which personhood is evoked, both in oral poetry and in written diaries and letters, discusses the audience's role in creating the meaning of texts, and shows textual creativity to be a universal human capacity expressed in myriad forms. Engaging and thought-provoking, this book will be welcomed by anyone interested in anthropology, literature and cultural studies.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Cambridge University Press

I Could Speak Until Tomorrow: Oriki, Women & the Past in a Yoruba Town (International African Library)

Edinburgh University Press

I COULD SPEAK UNTIL TOMORROW: ORIKI, WOMEN AND THE PAST IN A YORUBA TOWN (International African Library)

In Yoruba culture oriki, or oral praise poetry, is a major part of both traditional performance and daily life, and as such reflects social change and structure both past and present. Karin Barber studies the oriki poetry of Okuku, a small town in the Oyo state of Nigeria. She shows how women, the main performers of the oriki, interpret the poems and examines the links it gives them between living and dead, human and spiritual, and present and past.

'Despite the overwhelming reality of economic decline; despite unimaginable poverty; despite wars, malnutrition, disease and political instability, African cultural productivity grows apace: popular literatures, oral narrative and poetry, dance, drama, music and visual art all thrive.' - Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father's House This collection of essays examines the way in which African popular culture has moved centre stage since the early 1980s. The emphasis is on the verbal rather than the visual, and topics covered include the oral tradition, and women in popular culture. KARIN BARBER is Professor of African Cultural Anthropology at the University of Birmingham Published in association with the International African Institute North America: Indiana University Press

Readings in African Popular Culture

James Currey

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barber, Karin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Barber, Karin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barber, Karin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

West African Popular Theatre (Drama and Performance Studies)

The Generation of Plays: Yoruba Popular Life in Theater

West African Popular Theatre (Drama & Performance)

The Generation of Plays: Yoruba Popular Life in Theater

The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (New Departures in Anthropology)

The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (New Departures in Anthropology)

I Could Speak Until Tomorrow: Oriki, Women & the Past in a Yoruba Town (International African Library)

I Could Speak Until Tomorrow: Oriki, Women & the Past in a Yoruba Town (International African Library)

The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (New Departures in Anthropology)

Readings in African Popular Culture