Performing arts in West Africa

The NVAS (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Afrikastudies) Africa Day 2019, entitled 'Le corps ne ment pas' , took place on 16 March in Utrecht. Its theme: “Performing arts in West Africa”. The programme was compiled by Javier López Piñón and Marieke van Winden, who has been committed to the NVAS Secretariat for over 20 years. The Africa Day programme consisted of presentations and short performances in the fields of African dance, theatre and music. The evening programme featured the dance performance ‘Du désir d’horizons’ by Burkinese choreographer Salia Sanou, in the ‘Stadsschouwburg’.

To mark this occasion, the ASCL Library compiled a web dossier, which starts with an introduction to the subject by Javier López Piñón. The web dossier contains titles from the ASCL Library catalogue published from 2010, focusing on the performing arts in West Africa, in particular theatre, dance and hiphop. Some relevant titles from other African contexts are also included. It also contains a list of written plays from West Africa published from 2010, which are part of the ASCL Library’s extensive literature collection. Each title links to the corresponding record in the ASCL Library’s online catalogue, which provides abstracts and full text links (if available). The dossier concludes with links to a number of relevant web resources.

Introduction
General
Theatre
Plays and playwrights - case studies
Dance
Hiphop
Drama (form) - written plays
Web resources
 

Introduction

In recent decades, a significant shift in theatre studies towards performance studies has provided the study of performance and performing arts in Africa with a range of instruments to map, analyse and evaluate the field. Especially the Anglophone academic world has been very active in this context, whereas the Francophone world appears slow to accept that theatre and drama are not the same phenomenon, drama being the exclusive contribution from Europe to a global practice that can be assembled under the heading theatre. This is reflected in the number of titles that have appeared since 2010 for each genre: in terms of theatre, less than one third of titles concern the Francophone region, while for drama (form), there is an almost equal number of French and English plays. This might be indicative of academic attention: Francophones prefer to concentrate on authors, whereas Anglophones focus on the diversity of performance practices. If we expand the period to include literature from the first decade of this century as well, this difference becomes even more marked. 

The performing arts in Africa cover not only a wide array of disciplines like dance, theatre and music, but these disciplines can also be studied on a wide continuum between what is ascribed, at one end, to the so-called traditional and, at the other end, to the contemporary. Both these sectors have their own corpus of literature.  The study of masquerades, initiation rites, ceremonies of a religious or profane nature is mostly undertaken by Africanist ethnologists/anthropologists, often through active participation; contemporary theatre (and dance) practices are studied by theatre academics; music has its own range of specialists: the (ethno-) musicologists. A separate webdossier (African Art II) can be perused for an in-depth survey of the literature covering local performing arts ("traditional") practices. The current webdossier is dedicated to drama, contemporary theatre and dance and also includes a list of literature on the strong presence of hip-hop on the entire continent. Even though this list excludes the literature on local performance, the separate practices do occasionally overlap and influence each other. Traces of this phenomenon can be found in this list and especially Nigerian scholars are actively engaged in mapping the continual dynamic process in this rapidly changing field; the influence of the digital media age on these processes is just beginning to be described and understood.

As is to be expected, the postcolonial and decolonising discourses are prominent in this field. The thorny issue of cultural appropriation appears throughout, albeit in very different guises if one compares the field of music to the field of cinema, or theatre to dance. The positions taken differ widely, depending on the context in which the artist or scholar is practicing or studying the performing arts. If one compares the performing to the contemporary visual arts, the landscape becomes even more complex.

The literature in this webdossier touches only occasionally upon one significant discipline that is strongly related to the performing arts, but warrants a different methodological approach for academic study: film, and especially the home-grown variety begun in Nigeria in the last century – the (in)famous Nollywood productions – and which has become an almost continent-wide practice, covering an array of films, often in one of the national languages. A separate webdossier (African Cinema) has been compiled for this corpus of literature, although there are also overlaps for this discipline, in particular in the field of so-called Popular Theatre/Théâtre Populaire.

Performing arts on the continent form an extremely rich field of study, showing dynamic, continuously evolving creative processes inviting a multi-disciplinary approach; performance is strongly interwoven into every day practice, as anyone familiar with daily life in one of the metropoles in West or Southern Africa can testify.

Javier López Piñón
stage director
www.javierlopezpinon.com

General

Un/making difference through performance and mediation in contemporary Africa / guest ed.: Heike Becker & Dorothea Schulz.
Abingdon : Taylor & Francis, 2017.
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjac20/29/2 (Restricted access)

Negotiation in participatory development theatre : interface of the static and the dynamic / Perpetual Mforbe Chiangong.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association, (2016), volume 8, number 2, pages 25-43

The performing arts in Africa - Ghanaian perspectives / University of Ghana written by Faculty Past and Present of the School of Performing Arts, Legon and ed. by Awo Mana ... [et al.]
Oxfordshire, UK : Ayebia Clarke Publishing Limited, cop 2014.

Contemporary African cultural productions / ed. by V.Y. Mudimbe.
Dakar : CODESRIA, 2012.
http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article1729

Mobilizing the hordes : radio drama as development theatre in Sub-Saharan Africa / Victor N. Gomia
Bamenda : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, cop. 2012.

Spheres public and private : Western genres in African literature / ed. by Gordon Collier.
Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2011.

Style in African literature : essays on literary stylistics and narrative styles / Ogone John Obiero and Russell West-Pavlov. ed. by J.K.S. Makokha
Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2011.

Postcolonial African theatre: notes towards a definition / Chukwuma Okoye.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2011), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 9-27

Histories 1850-1950 / ed. Yvette Hutchison and review ed. Jane Plastow.
Oxford : James Currey, 2010.

Theater südlich der Sahara = Theatre in Sub-Saharan Africa / hrsg. von Rolf C. Hemke.
Berlin : Theater der Zeit, cop. 2010.

Theatre

Borrowers and lenders : exploring contemporary intercultural theatre in Francophone West Africa / Javier López Piñón
Utrecht Utrecht University, 2017.
https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/27328 (Free access)

Literature, integration and harmony in northern Nigeria / Saeedat B. Aliyu edited by Hamzat I. Abdulraheem, Ruben K. Akano.
Malete, Kwara State, Nigeria : Kwara State University Press, 2017.

Dynamics of distancing in Nigerian drama : a functional approach to metatheatre / Nadia Anwar.
Stuttgart : Ibidem-Verlag, 2016.

Insidious treasons and beyond : forty years of alternative theatre in Nigeria (essays) / Femi Osofisan.
Ibadan : Bookcraft, 2016.

La pièce de théâtre, une littérature pour les arts du spectacle / Blede Logbo.
Côte d'Ivoire : Éditions Universitaires de Côte d'Ivoire (EDUCI), 2016.

Les dramaturges africains francophones face aux enjeux scientifiques / Fernand Nouwligbèto.
In: Éthiopiques : revue négro-africaine de littérature et de philosophie (2016), no. 96, pages 103-123

Yoruba playwrights and politics in Nigeria : an examination of selected Yoruba written plays / ʿLayọ̀ Ògúnloḷá
In: Theory, knowledge, development and politics : what role for the academy in the sustainability of Africa? / eds. Munyaradzi Mawere et Artwell Nhemachena. - Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, (2016), pages 167-187

Contemporary West African monodrama and its stage productions : a challenge / Annette Bühler-Dietrich.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2016), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 7-16

Names and naming characters in African-language dramaturgy : the Yoruba example / Akintunde Akinyemi.
In: African identities (2016), vol. 14, no. 3, p. 242-254
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2015.1128802 (Restricted access)

Treasure on the shelves and the stage longs for new plays and playwrights / by Daniel Appiah-Adjei.
In: Journal of performing arts (2015/16), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 7-32 : graf., tab

Trickster theatre : the poetics of freedom in urban Africa / Jesse Weaver Shipley
Bloomington Indiana University Press 2015.

Yazi Dogo et l'art du théâtre populaire au Niger / Chaïbou Dan Inna and préf. de Jean-Dominique Pénel.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2015.

Drama and theatre in Nigeria : a critical source book / edited by Yemi Ogunbiyi.
Lagos : Tanus Books Limited, 2014.

Nigerian feminist theatre : essays on female axes in contemporary Nigerian drama / Mabel Tobrise.
Ibadan : Wits Publishing Ltd, 2014.

Female representation and gender dynamics in Commonwealth drama : African and Caribbean perspectives / Gilbert Tarka Faï.
In: Rhumsiki : revue scientifique de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de l'Université de Maroua (2014), no. 1, p. 69-82

'Mathématisation de la mise en scène théâtrale' / Guy Francis Tami Yoba.
In: Annales de la Faculté des Arts, Lettres et Sciences Humaines (2014), no. 16, p. 341-354 : ill

Critical perspectives on Cameroon writing / Albert Azeyeh ed. by Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh, Nalova Lyonga.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2013.

Inszenierungen von Nation im Rahmen des Unabhängigkeitsjubiläums in Benin im Jahr 2010 / Marie-Christin Gabriel.
Mainz : Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 2013.
https://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/files/2019/07/AP143.pdf

Performative inter-actions in African theatre 1 : diaspora representations and the interweaving of cultures / Kene editor Igweonu and Osy A. editor Okagbue
Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2013.

Performative inter-actions in African theatre 2 : innovation, creativity and social change / Kene editor Igweonu and Osy A. editor Okagbue
Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2013.

Performative Inter-Actions in African Theatre 3 : Making Space, Rethinking Drama and Theatre in Africa / Kene Igweonu and Osita Okagbue
Newcastle-upon-Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2013.

The politics of adaptation : contemporary African drama and Greek tragedy / Astrid van Weyenberg.
Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2013.

Shakespeare in & out of Africa / Jane Plastow volume editor and Martin Banham. reviews editor
Woodbridge, Suffolk : James Currey, 2013.

Théâtres populaires en Afrique : l'exemple de la kantata et du concert-party togolais : essai / Ayayi Togoata Apedo-Amah.
Lomé : Éditions Awoudy, 2013.

From Alarinjo to Arugba : continuities in indigenous Nigerian drama / Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju.
In: African identities (2013), vol. 11, no. 4, p. 395-406

From people theatre to film : articulating minority voices in Cameroon - an Anglophone grass field minority case study / Tume Fondzeyuf K.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2013), vol. 7, no. 2, p. 54-71 : foto's

Contemporary discourses on media and theatre arts studies in Nigeria / Hyginus O. Ekwuazi [editors], Charles O. Aluede and Osakue S. Omoera.
Delhi : Kamla-Raj Enterprises, 2012.

Women in Nigerian theatre / guest eds. Ngozi Udengwu & Victor Ukaegbu.
London : African Theatre Association, 2012.

Theatre for development: an alternative programme for reproductive health communication in urban Nigeria / Charles Emeka Nwadigwe.
In: African sociological review (2012), vol. 16, no. 2, p. 102-118

Translating culture in West African drama / Kelly O. Secovnie.
In: Journal of African cultural studies (2012), vol. 24, no. 2, p. 237-247

Regards historiques et critiques sur le théâtre camerounais / Jacques Raymond Fofié and préf. de M. Dassi.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2011.

Directing styles in the Nigerian literary theatre / Adul Rasheed Abiodun Adeoye.
In: Journal of performing arts (2011), vol. 4, no. 2, p. 32-46

Issues and development in contemporary Nigerian drama and theatre practice / Ahmed Yerima.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2011), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 36-44

L'absence de femmes dramaturges au Sénégal / Alioune Mbaye.
In: Annales de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines (2011), no. 41A, p. 201-219

Re-enacting Oedipus Rex with Yoruba witticism / by Gills Oluwatosin Adekannbi.
In: Drumspeak : international journal of research in the humanities (2011), n.s., vol. 4, no. 1/2, p. 56-74

Escritos sobre teatro / Kwame Kondé.
Praia : Artiletra, 2010.

Le théâtre francophone de l'Afrique de l'Ouest : des origines à nos jours : (historique et analyse de la dramaturgie en Côte d'Ivoire, au Burkina Faso, au Togo et au Bénin) / Pierre Médéhouégnon.
Jéricho-Cotonou : CAAREC, 2010.

Le théâtre populaire francophone au Cameroun (1970-2003) : langage, société, imaginaire / Marie-Thérèse Ambassa Betoko and préf. du Professeur Arlette Chemain-Degrange.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2010.

Literary perspectives on corruption in Africa 1 / ed. by Barth Oshionebo and Jonathan Desen Mbachaga.
Makurdi : Bookmakers, 2010.

Re-invention of tradition : the role of theatre in the self-development of the Buem of Ghana / Elias Kwaku Asiama. author
[Legon] : School of Communication Studies Press, University of Ghana, 2010.

Les prémisses de la réhabilitation des héros noirs et de la lutte anti-coloniale dans le théâtre historique de Ponty (1917-1948) / Alioune Mbaye.
In: Annales de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines (2010), no. 40A, p. 231-249

'Gyamfi's Golden Soap': commodity marketing, reform legitimation, and the performance of cultural authenticity in Ghana's popular theatre / David Afriyie Donkor.
In: Ghana studies (2009/10), vol. 12/13, p. 189-216

Plays and playwrights - case studies

Our land, our struggle, our dream : a poststructuralist reading of Niger Delta conflict rhetoric in Ahmed Yerima's Hard ground / Adeyemi Adegoju.
In: African identities (2017), vol. 15, no. 3, p. 231-246
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2016.1261691 (Restricted access)

Le théâtre de Koffi Kwahulé : belles de jazz : essai / Fanny Le Guen.
[Châtenay-Malabry] : Acoria éditions, 2016.

Re-imagining Bertolt Brecht, redefining British theatre : Oladipo Agboluaje's 'Mother Courage' / Samuel Kasule.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2016), vol. 8, no. 1, p. 48-63

Le théâtre camerounais vers la modernité : esquisse d'une lecture de 'Haïti' de la compagnie 'Emintha' aux prisme du théâtre postdramatique / Ibrahim Aliloulay Moungande.
In: Annales de la Faculté des Arts, Lettres et Sciences Humaines (2015.), numéro 17, pages 157-168

Wole Soyinka et Nestor Zinsou : de la scène à l'espace public : politique et religion / Alain Ricard.
Paris : Karthala, 2015.

Syncretic arenas : essays on postcolonial African drama and theatre for Esiaba Irobi / edited by Isidore Diala.
Amsterdam : Rodopi, 2014.

Esiaba Irobi's drama and the postcolony : theory and practice of postcolonial performance / Isidore Diala and forew. by M.J.C Echeruo.
Ibadan : Kraft Books, 2014.

The interpreters : ritual, violence and social regeneration in the writing of Wole Soyinka / Hakeem Bello.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2014.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o & Wole Soyinka / volume ed. Martin Banham & Femi Osofisan and Kimani Njogu guest ed., reviews ed., Martin Banham.
Oxford : James Currey, 2014.

The Obasinjom warrior : the life and works of Bate Besong / Emmanuel Fru Doh.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2014.

L'histoire comme base argumentatif dans le théâtre africain francophone post colonial : l'exemple des pièces historiques : Béatrice du Congo de Bernard Dadié, Les Sofas de Bernard Z. Zaourou, L'exil d'Alboury de Cheick Aliou Ndao, La tragédie du roi d'Aimé Césaire, Lat Dior ou le chemin de l'honneur de Thierno Bâ / El Hadj Abdoulaye Sall.
In: Sophia : la revue du Laboratoire de Littérature Comparée (2014), no. 2, p. 230-269

The purest mode of looking: (post)colonial trauma in Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman / Andrew Barnaby.
In: Research in African literatures : official journal of the African Literature Committee of the African Studies Association of America and the African Literatures Seminar of the Modern Language Association (2014), vol. 45, no. 1, p. 125-149

Women's contribution to the development of Anglophone Cameroonian drama: the plays of Anne Tanyi-Tang / Naomi Nkealah.
In: Research in African literatures : official journal of the African Literature Committee of the African Studies Association of America and the African Literatures Seminar of the Modern Language Association (2014), vol. 45, no. 2, p. 122-134

Essence and multi-lingualism in the plays of Sam Ukala / Kingsley I. Ehiemua.
In: Journal of performing arts (2013/14), vol. 4, no. 4, p. 91-102

Black Dionysos : conversations with Femi Osofisan / ed. by Olakunbi Olasope.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2013.

Regard sur les œuvres de Alioune Badara Bèye : 1974 - 2009 (essai, poésie, roman, théâtre) / Oumar Sankharé.
Dakar : Editions Maguilen [etc.], 2013.

The contributions of Wole Soyinka to anthropological studies in Africa : Kongi harvest as a case study / David A. Aremu.
In: West African journal of archaeology (2013), vol. 43, no. 2, p. 95-107

The drama of Ahmed Yerima : studies in Nigerian theatre / ʿRantimi Jays Julius-Adeoye.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2013.

Femi Osofisan tackles graft and corruption : a reading of his socially committed plays / C.O. Adjidahun.
In: Tydskrif vir letterkunde : 'n tydskrif vir Afrika-letterkunde (2013), jg. 50, nr. 2, p. 111-123

The politics of power and the struggle for self-assertation : Tess Onwueme's The reign of Wazobia// Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's Hands that crush stone and Julie Okoh's Edewede / Chinyelu Ojukwu.
In: The Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA) (2012/13), vol. 7, no. 2, p. 147-163

Bernard Zadi Zaourou, poète et dramaturge ivoirien / Bruno Gnaoulé-Oupoh.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2012.

Femi Osofisan's discourse on pan-Africanism and reconciliation in 'Nkrumah-Ni...Africa-Ni' and 'Reel, Rwanda' / C.O. Ajidahun.
In: Tydskrif vir letterkunde : 'n tydskrif vir Afrika-letterkunde (2012), jg. 49, nr. 2, p. 89-98

Historical and cultural context of folk opera development in Ghana: Saka Acquaye's 'The lost fishermen' in perspective / Moses N. Nii-Dortey.
In: Research review (2012), n.s., vol. 27, no. 2, p. 25-58 : fig., tab

Wole Soyinka : dance master of appetite / Daniel Gover.
In: The Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA) (2012), vol. 7, no. 1, p. 25-34

JP Clark : a voyage / Femi Osofisan.
Ibadan : Bookcraft, 2011.

Rituals in Cameroon drama : a semiological interpretation of the plays of Gilbert Doho, Bole Butake and Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh / Mforbe Pepetual Chiangong.
Eckersdorf : Pia Thielmann & Eckhard Breitinger, 2011.

The artist as educator: the oeuvre of Jean-Pierre Guingané / Annette Bühler-Dietrich & Hamadou Mandé.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2011), vol. 5, no. 2, p. 78-94

Esiaba Irobi's legacy: theory and practice of postcolonial performance / Isidore Diala.
In: Research in African literatures : official journal of the African Literature Committee of the African Studies Association of America and the African Literatures Seminar of the Modern Language Association (2011), vol. 42, no. 4, p. 20-38

From practice-based to practice-led research: Dapo Adelugba's work on 'Kiriji' and 'Langbodo' as inspiration / Chris Dunton.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2011), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 28-35

Identité et mondialité : la réception Bambara de La tragédie du Roi Christophe / Oumar Kanoute.
Bamako : Mande Bukari University Press, 2010.

The original explosion that created worlds : essays on Werewere Liking's art and writings / ed. by John Conteh-Morgan and Irène Assiba d'Almeida.
Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2010.

Cultural literacy and educational empowerment of women in the 21st century: a study of 'Into the world', 'Nneora: an African doll's house' and 'Our wife is not a woman' / Ngozi Udengwu.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2010), vol. 4, no. 1, p. 35-50

Dance

Les danseurs burkinabè en quête de savoirs reconnus à l'échelle locale et internationale / Sarah Andrieu
In: Savoirs et reconnaissance dans les sociétés africaines / sous la dir. de Pascale Moity-Maizi. - Paris : Karthala, cop. 2015.

Staging Ghana : artistry and nationalism in state dance ensembles / Paul Schauert.
Bloomington, IN [etc.] : Indiana University Press, 2015.

Grigris / un film produit par Florence Stern, et al.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXn7l36DtQs

Sur les berges du Congo on danse la rumba : ambiance d'une ville et sa jumelle : Kinshasa / Brazzaville des années 50-60 / Antoine Manda Tchebwa.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2012.

Bassari fire dance as a source of cultural tourism / Joe Adu-Agyem. Enoch Mani
[Ghana : Publisher not identified], 2010.

The clave comes home : salsa dance and pan-African identity in Ghana / Christey Carwile.
In: African studies review (2017), vol. 60, no. 2, p. 183-207 : foto's
https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2017.6 (Restricted access)

Dance performances in post-genocide Rwanda: remaking identity, reconnecting present and past / Carine Plancke.
In: Journal of eastern African studies : journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (2017), vol. 11, no. 2, p. 329-346
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2017.1302694 (Restricted access)

Dance, discipline, and the liberal self at a Ugandan Catholic boarding school / David G. Pier.
In: African studies review (2016), vol. 59, no. 3, p. 33-59
https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2016.86 (Restricted access)

Dance performance, an endorsement for advertised products on television in Ghana / by Jennies Deide Darko.
In: Journal of performing arts (2015/16), vol. 5, no. 1, p. 128-137

Cape Verdeans in the Atlantic : the formation of Kriolu music and dance styles on ship and in port / by Susan Hurley-Glowa.
In: African music : journal of the African Music Society (2015), vol. 10, no. 1, p. 7-30 : ill

Donner corps au 'Nouveau Rwanda' : danse et reconstruction post-génocidaire / Carine Plancke.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (2015), vol. 55, cah. 220, p. 711-738

Learning Senegalese sabar : dancers and embodiment in New York and Dakar / Eleni Bizas.
New York : Berghahn Books, 2014.

The politics of bodily mobility and ethnoracial performativity in a culture of avoidance : dance and difference-making in the Dutch kizomba scene / Ine Beljaars.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2014.
http://hdl.handle.net/1887/28814 (Under embargo)

Anatomy of Kuduro : articulating the Angolan body politic after the war / Marissa J. Moorman.
In: African studies review (2014), vol. 57, no. 3, p. 21-40
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/asr.2014.90 (Restricted access)

Choreographic performance, generations and the art of life in post-colonial Dakar / Hélène Neveu Kringelbach.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2014), vol. 84, no. 1, p. 36-54
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S000197201300065X (Restricted access)

’Create your space!’ : locating contemporary dance in Ouagadougou / Nadine Sieveking.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2014), vol. 84, no. 1, p. 55-77
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0001972013000661 (Restricted access)

Les valeurs de la création chorégraphique ouest africaine / Sarah Andrieu
In: Volume vol. 10-2 (2014), no. 1, p. 89-111

Encouraging dance and its notation in Ghanaian basic schools / Latipher Osei.
In: Journal of performing arts (2013/14), vol. 4, no. 4, p. 55-62

Managing culture : discipline, artistry, and alternative education in Ghana's State dance ensembles / Paul Schauert.
In: Africa today (2013/14), vol. 60, no. 3, p. 3-33 : fig, foto's

Rap culture and its parallels : the La kpa and Akan praise singing in perspective / Terry Bright Kweku Ofosu.
In: Journal of performing arts (2013/14), vol. 4, no. 4, p. 41-54

Transforming communities, recreating selves : interconnected diasporas, performance, and the shaping of Liberian immigrant identity / Yolanda Covington-Ward.
In: Africa today (2013/14), vol. 60, no. 1, p. 29-53 : foto's

Dance circles : movement, morality and self-fashioning in urban Senegal / Hélène Neveu Kringelbach.
New York [etc.] : Berghahn Books, 2013.

The 'Azonto' dance - a Ghanaian new creation : exploring new boundaries of popular dance forms / Terry Bright K. Ofosu.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2013), vol. 7, no. 1, p. 45-64 : foto's

The evolving face of 'Iwa Akwa' / Tia-Monique Uzor.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2013), vol. 7, no. 1, p. 104-115

Staging unity, performing subjectivities: Nkrumah, nation-building, and the Ghana Dance Ensemble / Paul Schauert.
In: Ghana studies (2012/13), vol. 15/16, p. 373-412 : foto

Body, space, and technology: interrogating conventionality in postmodern african dance theatre / Charles E. Nwadigwe.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2012), vol. 6, no. 2, p. 27-42

Féral Benga : de la danse nègre à la chorégraphie africaine / Nathalie Coutelet.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines (2012), vol. 52, cah. 205, p. 199-215

Colloque international politiques sportives et culturelles France - Sénégal : Dakar, 21-25 juin 2010 = International symposium sports and cultural policies France - Senegal : Dakar, 21-25 June 2010 / coord. de la publication: Denis Jallat ... [et al.] and [avec contrib. par Romuald Fonkoua ... [et al.]
Paris : Présence africaine, 2011.

The national troupe of Nigeria : choreographic and performance styles / Chris Ugoli.
In: Journal of performing arts (2011), vol. 4, no. 2, p. 112-118

Bô, l'empreinte du rythme / Aliénor Vallet.
http://youtu.be/fFzw84aWrC8

Ogunde's dance choreography and the quest for national unity in Nigeria / Christopher E. Ugolo.
In: African performance review : journal of the African Theatre Association (2010), vol. 4, no. 2, p. 41-53

Hiphop

Jeux de mots : slam / Mahamadou Traoré.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2015.

A very good bad guy : the story of Innocent '2Face' Idibia / ed. by Ayeni Adekunle Samuel.
Lagos : Nigerian Entertainment Today, 2015.

Wala Bok : Une histoire orale du hip hop au Sénégal / Fatou Kandé Senghor.
Dakar : Éditions Amalion, 2015.

100% Dakar : more than art / a film by Sandra Krampelhuber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV06LXSBSd4

Avant-garde : the cool DJ Jimmy Jatt story / Peju Akande and Toni Kan.
Lagos : Radi8 Ltd, 2014.

Créations et défis au Sénégal : Sembène, Diop, Diadji et Awadi / Hélène Colette Tissières.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2013.

Kinshasa kids / un film de Marc-Henri Wajnberg.

Sarabah = Sister Fa / Gloria Bremer a film by Marie Luisa Gambale, Steven Lawrence.
http://youtu.be/8RRu6ULvBeg

Changes : reflections on Senegalese youth political engagement, 1988-2012 / Michael C. Lambert.
In: Africa today (2016), vol. 63, no. 2, p. 33-51
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/646137/pdf (Restricted access)

'Hidrunisa samora' : invocations of a dead political leader in Maputo rap / Janne Rantala.
In: Journal of Southern African studies (2016), vol. 42, no. 6, p. 1143-1160 : graf., tab
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2016.1253929 (Restricted access)

Le dossier : polyphonies du rap / coordonné par Alice Aterianus-Owanga et Sophie Moulard.
In: Politique africaine (2016), no. 141, p. 5-145 : ill

Locating hip hop origins : popular music and tradition in Senegal / Catherine M. Appert.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2016), vol. 86, no. 2, p. 237-262
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972016000036 (Restricted access)

Du piment sur les lèvres = Chilly on the lips / Laurène Lepeytre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdCZGbJKOk

Codeswitching as a means and a message in hiplife music in Ghana / Evershed Kwasi Amuzu and Augustina Pokua Owusu. Millicent Quarcoo
In: Contemporary journal of African studies (2014), vol. 2, no. 2, p. 1-32

Le dossier : blackness / coordonné par Thomas Fouquet et Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga.
In: Politique africaine (2014), no. 136, p. 5-133

Multilingualism remixed : sampling, braggadocio and the stylisation of local voice / Quentin Williams and Christopher Stroud.
In: African studies : a quarterly journal devoted to the study of African administration, cultures and languages (2014), vol. 73, no. 1, p. 124-145
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2014.887752 (Restricted access)

Naija boy remix : Afroexploitation and the new media creative economies of cosmopolitan African youth / Krystal Strong and Shaun Ossei-Owusu.
In: Journal of African cultural studies (2014), vol. 26, no. 2, p. 189-205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2013.861343 (Restricted access)

Living the hiplife : celebrity and entrepreneurship in Ghanaian popular music / Jesse Weaver Shipley.
Durham [etc.] : Duke University Press, 2013.

Musical violence : gangsta rap and politics in Sierra Leone / Boima Tucker.
Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2013.
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:618529/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Boy Saloum / un film de Audrey Gallet and un production Cinéphage !/Yami 2/Sélébéyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnqxkLkLQyw

Code-switching in Nigerian hip-hop lyrics / Akinmade Akande.
In: Language matters : studies in the languages of Southern Africa (2013), vol. 44, no. 1, p. 39-57 : fig

Hip hop Africa : new African music in a globalizing world / ed. by Eric Charry.
Bloomington IND [etc.] : Indiana University Press, 2012.

The hiplife in Ghana : the West African indigenization of hip-hop / by Halifu Osumare.
Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Hip hop as social commentary in Accra and Dar es Salaam / Msia Kibona Clark.
In: African studies quarterly : the online journal of African studies (2012), vol. 13, no. 3, p. 23-46
http://asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Clark-V13Is3.pdf

Hip-hop and cultural citizenship on Kenya's 'Swahili coast' / Andrew J. Eisenberg.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute (2012), vol. 82, no. 4, p. 556-578 : foto's

Multilingualism and hip hop consumption in Nigeria: accounting for the local acceptance of a global phenomenon / Olusegun Fariudeen Liadi.
In: Afrika spectrum (2012), vol. 47, no. 1, p. 3-19

The Bongo Flava industry in Tanzania and artists' strategies for success / Uta Reuster-Jahn and Gabriel Hacke.
Mainz : Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 2011.
https://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/files/2019/07/AP127.pdf

Les États-Unis d'Afrique : au-delà du hip hop = United States of Africa : beyond hip hop / un film de Yanick Létourneau, et al.
https://youtu.be/-TvPBqI4kBU

Reconsidering cultural entrepreneurship: hip hop music economy and social change in Senegal, Francophone West Africa / Jenny Fatou Mbaye.
London : London School of Economics and Political Science, 2011.
http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/201/1/Mbaye_Reconsidering_cultural_entrepreneurship.pdf

Keeping it real : amaXhosa 'iimbongi' making mimesis do its thing in the hip-hop and rap music of the Eastern Cape / by Lee Wiliam Watkins.
In: African music : journal of the African Music Society (2010), vol. 8, no. 4, p. 24-47

The relationship between hip hop music and aggression among secondary school youth in Kenya / Lydia A. Mareri.
In: Egerton journal of humanities, social sciences and education (2010), vol. 9, p. 132-145 : graf., tab

Drama (form) - written plays 

Afonja : a historical play / Sakky Jojo.
Illorin, Kwara State (Nigeria) : Grethworth Consult, 2018.//©2018.

The oily marriage / Hope Eghagha.
Lagos : Malthouse Press, 2018.

Une pseudo-vie familiale : théâtre / Joël Amah Ajavon.
Lome, Togo : Editions Awoudy, 2017.

Ma belle albinos : parler à tout prix : théâtre / Lamine Diabaté.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2016//©2016.

Iyase : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2016.

Le maître de l'empire, suivi de La dette du mort : théâtre / Ayayi Togoata Apedo-Amah.
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2016.

Life burial : a stage play / by Helen Paul.
Lagos : University of Lagos Press and Bookshop Ltd, 2016.

Sank : la patience des morts / Aristide Tamagda.
Paris : Lansman, 2016.

Those who live in glass houses : drama / Obil Okwelume.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2016.

Who is afraid of Mongo wa Swolenka : a one act play / Tennu Mbuh.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2016.

5 octobre an zéro : théâtre / Ayayi Togoata Apédo-Amah.
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2015.

Abobaku : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2015.

Et l'afrique se rebella : théâtre / Mathurin Goli Bi Irié.
Abidjan : Les éditions Matrice, 2015.

La dernière chevauchée de l'empereur de Kong : théâtre / Berte Issoufou and préf. de N'Guessan Kouadio Joël.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2015.

La méprise : pièce de théâtre en deux visions et huit perspectives / Marouba Fall.
Dakar : Ruba éditions, 2015.

La république des slips : théâtre / Charles Manian. Ayayi Togoata Apedo-Amah
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2015.

Le gâteau du mariage, suivi de Le Prix : théâtre / Jean Amévi Akiti.
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2015.

Les trônes sacrés jumeaux : tragédie / Ayayi Togoata Apedo-Amah.
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2015.

Many colours make the thunder-king : a play / Femi Osofisan.
Lagos : Concept Publications Limited, 2015.

Mon blanc à moi (sketches) / Major Asse.
Yaoundé : Éditions CLÉ, 2015.

Naange : l'astre de la renaissance : théâtre / Idrissa Sow Gorkoodio, et al.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2015.

Prison graduates : (acquired prison traumatic syndrome (A.P.T.S.) : (a drama in four legs) / by Efo Kodjo Mawugbe.
Accra : Afram Publications (Ghana) Limited, 2015.

Rising sun and Boma / Kenneth Usongo.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2015.

Roméo et Juliette, les amants de Gorée / réal. un film de Grégory Hiétin, aut. and Ablaye Mbaye Abdoulaye Dieng, Amaury Karfa... [et al.], participants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3cRoUOipKo

Ticha-Ticha / Hakim Bah.
Carnières-Morlanwelz : Lansman éditeur, 2015.

˜Lesœ mariages salvateurs : théâtre / Patrice Ndedi Penda.
Yaoundé : Éditions CLÉ, 2014.//©2014.

Blood lines & other plays : drama / Chris Anyokwu.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2014.

Death and the king's grey hair & other plays : drama / Denja Abdullahi.
Ibadan : Kraft Books, 2014.

Immergence : suivi de La fuite : théâtre et poésie / Hermann Y. Kouassi.
Benin : Editions Wéziza, 2014.

Iredi War : a folkscript : drama / Sam Ukala.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2014.

L'arbre à la cour criminelle : théatre : suivi de Assez, cessez !, sketch // Le pacte des êtres de la mer, de l'air et de la terre, sketch // la graine du grand celtis, poème / Djibril Hamet Ly, et al.
Nouakchott : Editions de la Librairie 15/21, 2014.

Les complaintes de la sirène : suivi de: Le Prisonnier : théâtre / Jérôme-Michel Tossavi.
Cotonou : Les Éditions Plurielles, 2014.

The lock on my lips / Perpetua K. Nkamanyang Lola.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2014.

Ma descente au purgatoire / Gemzo Kiffo.
[Lomé] : Editions Cassiopée, 2014.

Mélédouman : suivi de ... pour un casting théâtre / Tiburce Koffi.
Abidjan : NEI-CEDA éditions, 2014.

A night of pleasure / Femi Okedara.
Lagos : Durano Publishing Ltd, 2014.

Orisa Ibeji : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2014.

Passport to success (a play) / Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga.
Lagos : Bulkybon Books, 2014.

Qu'il en soit ainsi / Sophie Heidi Kam.
Ouagadougou : Sankofa éditions, 2014.

Radio Tout-Va-Bien-Au-Pays : théâtre / Charles Manian. Ayayi Togoata Apedo-Amah
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2014.

Searching for Bate Besong : a play / Mbuh Tennu Mbuh.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publshing CIG, 2014.

The tears of Lucifer / by Daniel Appiah-Adjei.
[Ghana] ://Tema, [Ghana] : [Publisher not identified],//Erqsel Printo. 2014.

L'autopsie (Théatre) : Recueil de trois (3) pièces de théatres / Justin Stanislas Drabo.
Ouagadougou ://©2014 Harmattan Burkina, 2014.

Balade théâtrale.
Lomé : Editions Awoudy, 2013//©2013.

Album littéraire, 1974-2009 : (essai, poésie, roman, théâtre) / prés. : Oumar Sankharé. Alioune Badara Bèye
Dakar ://Dakar : Maguilen ////Abis éditions, 2013.

Asana : a play in three acts / Bill Marshall.
Accra : Afram Publications Ghana, 2013.

Ceux qui sont morts suivi de, Kaklara ou jamais à genoux : théâtre / Adama Traoré.
Abidjan : Balafons, 2013.

Dois tiros e uma gargalhada / Abdulai Sila.
Bissau : Ku Si Mon Editora, 2013.

Egbon of Lagos : (a play) / Akin Bello.
Ibadan : Abel Books, 2013.

Fointama : a play / Kelvin Ngong Toh.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2013.

Heart of stone : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books, 2013.

La gouvernance concertee : comédie en trois actes / Edgar Okiki Zinsou.
Lomé : Editions Continents, 2013.

Tafida & other plays : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2013.

The tragedy of Masaneh Ceesay : a three act play / by A. Sering Secka.
[Gambia?] : A.M.S. Secka, 2013.

L'arbre qui pleure : théâtre / Alain Claude Wanda Akaffou and Dr. Adigran Jean-Pierre]. [préface
Abidjan : Les Editions Balafons, 2013.

Et si Yéri Ndiamane était encore là, ou, La légende des orphelins Massamba Diéye et Ngoné Ndiaye : pièce de théâtre / communicateur traditionnel. El Hadji Ale Niang
[Senegal] : Editions Damelles Sénégal, 2012.

La liberté enivrante : théâtre / Alfred Jean Michel Bationo.
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso : Presses Universitaires de Ouagadougou, 2012.

The mad prophet / Chidiebere Stanley Okonkwo.
Isolo Lagos : Bloom Mines Book Enterprises, 2012.

Femmes en scène : théâtre : Sokan Théâtre, Chantier Panafricain d'Écriture Dramatique des Femmes, 4ème édition, Grand-Bassam, Octobre-Novembre 2009.
Abidjan : Les Éditions Balafons, 2012.

The absolute power / Abiola Abidemi Alaogun.
Lagos : Peace Concept, 2011.

Ato̳bra / by Daniel Appiah-Adjei.
[Kumasi, Ghana] : Cultural Centre--Kumasi, 2011.

Au nom du peuple / Ahmed Tidjani Cissé.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2011.

Bengoula au cabinet du Ministre : théâtre / Bienvenu Mbala.
Yaounde : Editions Lupeppo, 2011.

Contemporain Cameroun : théâtre / Edouard Elvis Bvouma ... [et al.]
Yaoundé : Éditions Ifrikiya, 2011.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti : the primary man of an African personality : the narrative & screenplay / Jawi Oladipo-Ola and introduction by Adetokunbo Ade-Banjo.
Osogbo : Frontpage Media, 2011.

In the continuum and other plays / ed. by Rory Kilalea.
Harare : Weaver Press, 2011.

Layila... Kakatua wan bi Lida / Coolie Forde.
Freetown : Sierra Leonean Writers Series, 2011.

Le parler-chanter : 5 pièces du théâtre chanté / de Werewere-Liking.
Abidjan : Les Édition Balafons, 2011.

Leopard watch (Kiléy Báh) / J.K. Bannavti.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2011.

L'initiation : théâtre / Adamou Ndam Njoya.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2011.

Literaturas da Guiné-Bissau : cantando os escritos da história / Odete Costa Semedo. org. Margarida Calafate Ribeiro
Porto : Afrontamento, 2011.

No pennies for mama : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2011.

Three plays : drama / Ahmed Yerima.
Ibadan : Kraft Books Limited, 2011.

Within the walls of hell / Taniform Martin Wanki.
Bamenda : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2011.

Serment d'ivrogne : théâtre / Roland Yehoun.
Saint-Denis : Edilivre Aparis, 2011.

Gaining the game : drama / Mathew Takwi.
Bamenda, Cameroon : NAB Ventures, 2010//©2010.

SPR : théâtre / Dieudonné Niangouna.
Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) : Découvertes du Burkina, 2010//©2010.

The agenda and other plays / 'Bayo Famonure.
Barkin Ladi : Agape Missions International, 2010.

Ajarat : it's the story of an unripe mango / Bunmi Julius-Adeoye.
Lagos : ICS Services, 2010.

Black caps and red feathers and Ancestral earth (two plays) / John Nkemngong Nkengasong.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.

The call of blood / John Nkemngong Nkengasong.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.

The earth mother / Kehbuma Langmia.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.

Graine de chef : théâtre / Samba Niaré and préf. de Alphamoye Sonfo.
Bamako : EDIS, 2010.

Hands that crush stone (a play) / Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo.
Ibadan : University Press PLC, 2010.

The hill barbers / Ekpe Inyang.
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.

The hot chair / written by Faustina Brew.
Accra : Yamens Press Limited, 2010.

Kouroukan Fouga : Soundjata et l'assemblée des peuples : la charte du Mandé / Djibril Tamsir Niane.
Abidjan ://Abidjan : NEI ////CEDA, 2010.

Long story : a play / by Bode Sowande.
Ibadan : Book Builders Editions Africa, 2010.

Mbarra : a dance drama : drama / Arnold Udoka.
Ibadan : Kraft Books, 2010.

Mbilème ou Le baobab du lion : théâtre / Fama Diagne Sène.
Dakar : Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Sénégal (NEAS), 2010.

Murder of the surgical bone / by Faustina Brew.
Accra : Yamens Press Limited, 2010.

Quand dieu a faim : théâtre / Daté Atavito Barnabé-Akayi.
Cotonou : Plumes Soleil, 2010.

Rock of god = Kilán ke nyùy / JK Bannavti and [introd. by Shey Stephen Shemlon]
Mankon : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.

Tears of a bride / Oyekunle Oyedeji.
Ibadan : University Press, 2010.

Trilogia : Perdão, Emília // Fonseca de Nha Susana // Manduco vivo = Trilojiâ : Perdon, Imília // Fonseka Nha Suzana // Manduku bibu / Armindo Martins Tavares.
[Cabo Verde : Armindo Martins Tavares], 2010.

The King's clarion call / Charles Ayodeji Dada.
Lagos : Pyramid Unit, 2010, 2006.

Web resources

African Theatre (print series )
African Theatre (AT), an annual publication, focuses on research, critical discussion, information and creativity in the field of African theatre and performance.  In addition to key articles addressing current debates, each volume includes a book review section and the text of a previously unpublished play by an African writer. Abstracts can be found in the ASCL catalogue, print copies are available through the ASCL Library.
https://catalogue.leidenuniv.nl/permalink/31UKB_LEU/s5ab2f/alma9939084502602711

African Theatre Association
The African Theatre Association is an international non-profit society open to scholars and practitioners of African performance and theatre. Its primary aim, through its annual conferences, is to be a forum for the exploration of African performance and theatre processes. AfTA intends to serve as a bridge between African theatre practices and scholarship in Africa and the African Diaspora, by bringing academics and theatre-makers together. Its journal, African Performance Review, is collected, indexed and abstracted by the African Studies Centre.
http://africantheatreassociation.org/

Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques, June/Juin 2017: Issue No 15, Special Topic: Contemporary African Drama and Theatre
Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques is the open access journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC). This issue of Critical Stages focuses on theatre in Africa.
http://www.critical-stages.org/15/special-topic/

Drama online (restricted access)
Drama Online is an online subscription database providing plays, along with contextual and critical background through scholarly works and practical guides. It holds a section on African drama.
https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/african-drama-iid-2519

Journal of African Cultural Studies Forthcoming Special Issue: Dance and Decolonization (restricted access)
The Journal of African Cultural Studies has a forthcoming special issue on dance and decolonization, of which a few articles are already accessible online for subscribers.
‘They don’t care about us’: representing the black postcolonial subject through the appropriation of Michael Jackson in Gabonese urban dance / Alice Aterianus-Owa
https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2016.1266464
Decolonizing time through dance with Kwenda Lima: Cabo Verde, creolization, and affiliative afromodernity / Ananya Jahanara Kabir - https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2018.1512849
Global and local media and the making of an Ethiopian national icon / Hui Niu Wilcox https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2018.1546168

The Shifting Traces: Contemporary Dance In and Outside of Africa
This blog features contemporary dance from Africa touring the globe and asking audiences worldwide to rethink their assumptions about Africa.
https://shiftafrica.wordpress.com/