Le théâtre anglophone du Nigéria, du Ghana, et de la Sierra Leone: évolution des formes, des origines à la fin du XXe siècle (review)

This is an enormous book, very well organized, detailed, full of good historical information, a book that is the result of many years of teaching and research on the history of theater in anglophone Africa. Of course, it will be a necessary book to consult, but it is more difficult to read it. Instead of historicizing its own trajectory—like Bernard Mouralis's collection of articles—it purports to provide a synthesis of the field, a rather questionable project. The book is based on a thesis defended in 1985. But can one treat a century of theater without anthropological questioning? without considering field work dealing with Yoruba opera, concert party, and other genres of West African popular theater? In other words, how does one write history? The work of Karin Barber is not cited, although it provides, in my humble opinion, the literary, political, and anthropological contexts for this kind of history. I am very well treated in the book (pp. 54–57), but I would prefer to read a discussion of my thesis—the necessary articulation between popular and literary theater—rather than a mere commentary on it. Biodun Jeyifo is considered a revolutionary (p. 442), along with Bode Sowande (!), but he should rather be read as a great sociologist of literature and theater. Engaging the debate with politics and anthropology should be a priority if one deals with theater. This is not the case and it is a major weakness of an otherwise imposing book.