I hold a PhD at the Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town. My research and pedagogical interests are centred on environmental humanities that is situated within and responsive to ways in which the water bodies of Nigeria's Niger Delta are theatrically imagined in the context of extractive modernities.
Isidore Diala’s festschrift for Esiaba Irobi, Syncretic Arenas: Essays on Postcolonial African Dr... more Isidore Diala’s festschrift for Esiaba Irobi, Syncretic Arenas: Essays on Postcolonial African Drama and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi can be viewed through a number of critical lenses. At one level, one could consider how the volume captures the nature of Esiaba Irobi’s work as poet, dramatist, theatre and film scholar, as distilled through the interviews, essays, poems and tributes collected in this book. On another level, the book provides a discursive platform for scholars of transcultural studies across the world to articulate a myriad forms of performative and choreographic epistemes. Irobi had grappled with some of these modes of cultural knowledge in his short but eventful life before his death on April 4, 2010. At this level the festschrift becomes a scholarly festival, literally highlighting a diverse critical mass of ideas, some historical others theoretical, that represent Africa’s theatre culture.
This paper re-visits Efua Sutherland's “The Marriage of Anansewa”, clearly the most seminal examp... more This paper re-visits Efua Sutherland's “The Marriage of Anansewa”, clearly the most seminal example of Ghana's anansegoro theatre tradition, especially in light of its influence from the pre-modern anansesem story-telling tradition, which Sutherland borrows from to illustrate how indigenous culture can revitalize a post-colonial performance tradition. The paper attempts to engage debates on sutherland's exploration of the notions of form and content in the new theatre paradigm within the context of the spider corpus.
Isidore Diala’s “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony.
Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Per... more Isidore Diala’s “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony. Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance” has come to blaze scholarly trail of what Diala himself described as “the Irobi canon”; a critical framing and exploration of Esiaba Irobi’s contribution to the drama and discourse of postcoloniality. Recounting Irobi’s embittered disappointment with the Western publishing establishment which denied and rejected his combative, anticolonial monograph, Michael J. C. Echeruo, in the “Foreword,” captures the necessity of the book as capable of drawing “serious attention to the plays and poems of this gifted man” (13).
This paper is a chapter in Syncretic Arenas
Essays on Postcolonial African Drama
and Theatre for ... more This paper is a chapter in Syncretic Arenas Essays on Postcolonial African Drama and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi Edited by Isidore Diala, Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi, 2014. The paper aims at tracing the influence of Esiaba Irobi theatre through Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark , to the ontology of Igbo performative worldview.
The deconstruction of the spatio-temporal configuration of the stage and the auditorium which nec... more The deconstruction of the spatio-temporal configuration of the stage and the auditorium which necessitates interactive and communal performativity in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa is a signature imprint of both the pre-colonial and post-colonial dramatic traditions. This paper takes a critical appraisal of the participatory nature of African performance and argues that it is a cul-tural and theatrical enunciation of the ontology of African communalism and philosophy of 'Ubuntu': “I am, because we are, and since we are; therefore I am”. This paper therefore contends that communalism is the epistemic infrastructure that undergirds African performance, philosophical systems, metaphysics and political ideologies. While not projecting an essentialist discourse of African performance identity, it is the submission of this article that the mechanics of the audience in African performance embodies unquestionable homologic patterns. Using the Igbo masquerade theatre in the South-east of Nigeria, and the anansesem story-telling theatre of the Akan-speaking people of Ghana, as well as the post-colonial adaptations of these indigenous performance paradigms, this paper privileges the semiological sense in which communal performance is the cultural version of African religious, philosophical and ideological imperatives.
"Environmental Scatology in Eni-Jologho Umuko's The Scent of Crude Oil"Re-Thinking Environment: ... more "Environmental Scatology in Eni-Jologho Umuko's The Scent of Crude Oil"Re-Thinking Environment: Literature, Ethics and Praxis, New Delhi: Authorspress, 2017
In Remapping African Literature, Olabode Ibironke offers a reexamination of the meaning-making pr... more In Remapping African Literature, Olabode Ibironke offers a reexamination of the meaning-making process of African literature. He eschews the traditional praxis of literary criticism, proposing instead a consideration of ways in which conditions of cultural production offer a bottom-up approach totextual analysis.
David Afriyie Donkor examines the economic and socio-political impact of neoliberal
measures on t... more David Afriyie Donkor examines the economic and socio-political impact of neoliberal measures on the West African country of Ghana during the regime of Jerry John Rawl- ings and reflects on how theatrical performances were mobilized to mediate these measures in ways that enabled the government to sustain political legitimization. The book particularly focuses on three traditional performance paradigms – gyimi, concert party and kodzi – all three rooted in the famous, ‘time honoured’ anansesem tradition.
Isidore Diala’s festschrift for Esiaba Irobi, Syncretic Arenas: Essays on Postcolonial African Dr... more Isidore Diala’s festschrift for Esiaba Irobi, Syncretic Arenas: Essays on Postcolonial African Drama and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi can be viewed through a number of critical lenses. At one level, one could consider how the volume captures the nature of Esiaba Irobi’s work as poet, dramatist, theatre and film scholar, as distilled through the interviews, essays, poems and tributes collected in this book. On another level, the book provides a discursive platform for scholars of transcultural studies across the world to articulate a myriad forms of performative and choreographic epistemes. Irobi had grappled with some of these modes of cultural knowledge in his short but eventful life before his death on April 4, 2010. At this level the festschrift becomes a scholarly festival, literally highlighting a diverse critical mass of ideas, some historical others theoretical, that represent Africa’s theatre culture.
This paper re-visits Efua Sutherland's “The Marriage of Anansewa”, clearly the most seminal examp... more This paper re-visits Efua Sutherland's “The Marriage of Anansewa”, clearly the most seminal example of Ghana's anansegoro theatre tradition, especially in light of its influence from the pre-modern anansesem story-telling tradition, which Sutherland borrows from to illustrate how indigenous culture can revitalize a post-colonial performance tradition. The paper attempts to engage debates on sutherland's exploration of the notions of form and content in the new theatre paradigm within the context of the spider corpus.
Isidore Diala’s “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony.
Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Per... more Isidore Diala’s “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony. Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance” has come to blaze scholarly trail of what Diala himself described as “the Irobi canon”; a critical framing and exploration of Esiaba Irobi’s contribution to the drama and discourse of postcoloniality. Recounting Irobi’s embittered disappointment with the Western publishing establishment which denied and rejected his combative, anticolonial monograph, Michael J. C. Echeruo, in the “Foreword,” captures the necessity of the book as capable of drawing “serious attention to the plays and poems of this gifted man” (13).
This paper is a chapter in Syncretic Arenas
Essays on Postcolonial African Drama
and Theatre for ... more This paper is a chapter in Syncretic Arenas Essays on Postcolonial African Drama and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi Edited by Isidore Diala, Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi, 2014. The paper aims at tracing the influence of Esiaba Irobi theatre through Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark , to the ontology of Igbo performative worldview.
The deconstruction of the spatio-temporal configuration of the stage and the auditorium which nec... more The deconstruction of the spatio-temporal configuration of the stage and the auditorium which necessitates interactive and communal performativity in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa is a signature imprint of both the pre-colonial and post-colonial dramatic traditions. This paper takes a critical appraisal of the participatory nature of African performance and argues that it is a cul-tural and theatrical enunciation of the ontology of African communalism and philosophy of 'Ubuntu': “I am, because we are, and since we are; therefore I am”. This paper therefore contends that communalism is the epistemic infrastructure that undergirds African performance, philosophical systems, metaphysics and political ideologies. While not projecting an essentialist discourse of African performance identity, it is the submission of this article that the mechanics of the audience in African performance embodies unquestionable homologic patterns. Using the Igbo masquerade theatre in the South-east of Nigeria, and the anansesem story-telling theatre of the Akan-speaking people of Ghana, as well as the post-colonial adaptations of these indigenous performance paradigms, this paper privileges the semiological sense in which communal performance is the cultural version of African religious, philosophical and ideological imperatives.
"Environmental Scatology in Eni-Jologho Umuko's The Scent of Crude Oil"Re-Thinking Environment: ... more "Environmental Scatology in Eni-Jologho Umuko's The Scent of Crude Oil"Re-Thinking Environment: Literature, Ethics and Praxis, New Delhi: Authorspress, 2017
In Remapping African Literature, Olabode Ibironke offers a reexamination of the meaning-making pr... more In Remapping African Literature, Olabode Ibironke offers a reexamination of the meaning-making process of African literature. He eschews the traditional praxis of literary criticism, proposing instead a consideration of ways in which conditions of cultural production offer a bottom-up approach totextual analysis.
David Afriyie Donkor examines the economic and socio-political impact of neoliberal
measures on t... more David Afriyie Donkor examines the economic and socio-political impact of neoliberal measures on the West African country of Ghana during the regime of Jerry John Rawl- ings and reflects on how theatrical performances were mobilized to mediate these measures in ways that enabled the government to sustain political legitimization. The book particularly focuses on three traditional performance paradigms – gyimi, concert party and kodzi – all three rooted in the famous, ‘time honoured’ anansesem tradition.
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Papers by Ajumeze Henry
provides a discursive platform for scholars of transcultural studies across the world to articulate a myriad forms of performative and choreographic epistemes. Irobi had grappled with some of these modes of cultural knowledge in his short but eventful life before his death on April 4, 2010. At this level the festschrift becomes a scholarly
festival, literally highlighting a diverse critical mass of ideas, some historical others theoretical, that represent Africa’s theatre culture.
Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance”
has come to blaze scholarly trail of what Diala himself
described as “the Irobi canon”; a critical framing and
exploration of Esiaba Irobi’s contribution to the drama
and discourse of postcoloniality. Recounting Irobi’s embittered
disappointment with the Western publishing establishment
which denied and rejected his combative,
anticolonial monograph, Michael J. C. Echeruo, in the
“Foreword,” captures the necessity of the book as capable
of drawing “serious attention to the plays and poems
of this gifted man” (13).
Essays on Postcolonial African Drama
and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi Edited by Isidore Diala, Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi, 2014. The paper aims at tracing the influence of Esiaba Irobi theatre through Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark , to the ontology of Igbo performative worldview.
Books by Ajumeze Henry
Book Reviews by Ajumeze Henry
measures on the West African country of Ghana during the regime of Jerry John Rawl-
ings and reflects on how theatrical performances were mobilized to mediate these
measures in ways that enabled the government to sustain political legitimization.
The book particularly focuses on three traditional performance paradigms – gyimi,
concert party and kodzi – all three rooted in the famous, ‘time honoured’ anansesem
tradition.
provides a discursive platform for scholars of transcultural studies across the world to articulate a myriad forms of performative and choreographic epistemes. Irobi had grappled with some of these modes of cultural knowledge in his short but eventful life before his death on April 4, 2010. At this level the festschrift becomes a scholarly
festival, literally highlighting a diverse critical mass of ideas, some historical others theoretical, that represent Africa’s theatre culture.
Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance”
has come to blaze scholarly trail of what Diala himself
described as “the Irobi canon”; a critical framing and
exploration of Esiaba Irobi’s contribution to the drama
and discourse of postcoloniality. Recounting Irobi’s embittered
disappointment with the Western publishing establishment
which denied and rejected his combative,
anticolonial monograph, Michael J. C. Echeruo, in the
“Foreword,” captures the necessity of the book as capable
of drawing “serious attention to the plays and poems
of this gifted man” (13).
Essays on Postcolonial African Drama
and Theatre for Esiaba Irobi Edited by Isidore Diala, Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi, 2014. The paper aims at tracing the influence of Esiaba Irobi theatre through Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark , to the ontology of Igbo performative worldview.
measures on the West African country of Ghana during the regime of Jerry John Rawl-
ings and reflects on how theatrical performances were mobilized to mediate these
measures in ways that enabled the government to sustain political legitimization.
The book particularly focuses on three traditional performance paradigms – gyimi,
concert party and kodzi – all three rooted in the famous, ‘time honoured’ anansesem
tradition.