Periodising the Evolution of Theatre for Development (TfD) and the Development Communication Process in Africa (original) (raw)

Introduction The study attempts a periodisation of the evolution of TfD and the development communication process in Africa. The perspective adopted spans within the larger scope of its implications and imperatives, to explore how this noble initiative that was given impetus by both Freire and Boal has developed in the continent over the years. This analysis is, therefore, undertaken from the following tripodal angles: i. The Pre-independence Era ii. The Post-independence Era, and iii. The Electronic Culture Era Conscious effort has been made to highlight the significant way in which patterns in social change within these epochs have particularly shaped the varying evolution trends. The Pre-independence Era TfD was witnessed in Africa as "early as the 1930's, when the colonial health workers, secondary school teachers, agricultural and community extension workers used drama to sell the virtues of modernization, cash crop productivity, and financial prudence" (Kamlongera qtd. in Mlama 68). As Mlama highlights, during this period field workers travelled from village to village organising drama performances, discussions and demonstrations based on such topics as cash crop production, taxation, and disease eradication; with theatrical programmes planned, message chosen, and scripts prepared by government workers. Kid further confirms the existence of TfD in this era in his review of some relevant literature (5). This is a clear pointer to the consciousness of the instrumentality of theatre which the colonial masters exhibited in using theatre as a powerful tool for conscientisation in pre-independence Africa. This theatre, as Odhiambo hints, is however couched in the parochial assumption "that the colonial subjects needed to be enlightened in a particular