Mobilizing the Hordes: Radio Drama as Development Theatre in Sub-Saharan Africa

Chapter Four African Radio Drama as Theatre for the Multitude

95 Chapter Four African Radio Drama as Theatre for the Multitude The centrality of radio for reaching and impacting on audiences that are often otherwise difficult to reach is one of the marvels of modern science. People who are socially and geographically isolated are taken out of their isolation by radio broadcasts. In Africa, like most parts of the developing world, community radio14 is the basic and popular communication medium for millions of people at the grassroots level. It is an effective communication vehicle which at times helps in identifying development needs at local levels. It brings parts of the otherwise hidden or ignored local traditions to the limelight. Community radio, unlike national radio, is geared towards local needs. Since its coming to Africa in the colonial days till today, radio has played a significant, albeit insufficient role in entertaining, educating and informing the people. As mass media, it could be better employed in not only for corroborating the “writing back”15 process began by the early writers of African literature, but also in bringing to the fold those invaluable but often fading cultural artefacts that western influence has rendered moribund. This chapter explores this productive relationship between radio and local culture while investigating the lapses that obtain in Sub Saharan Africa. 14 The language spoken in community radio is that of the common man. If it is English Language, it is hardly standard expression given that the objective of the radio is to reach the common man. In some cases the language spoken on the community radio is the local dialect. National radio on the other hand adopts the standard official languages. In the case of Cameroon it is French and English although there are occasions when local languages are used on the regional stations of the State-run Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation (CRTV). 15 Reactions to colonialist discursive historiography by African writers have been described as a revision and an act of writing back in a bid to correct the misrepresentation that obtains in colonialist writing. See for example, the symptomatic work of Helen Tiffin et al (eds) with the title: The Empire writes Back 96 Literature and the Media In The Press in Africa (1987), Ainslie Rosalynde asserts that he who controls communication controls more than the means to transmit messages. “That person”, says Rosalynde, “has in his/her hands a terrible power, the power to create for his wide audience an image of the world, and more importantly, an image of itself” (7). Literature in the modern era is generally identified with the printed page and the visual practice of reading in silence. So strong is this conception that people tend to forget about the old tradition of literature as an essentially oral activity, spoken, chanted or listened to. Even Africa’s vibrant oral tradition is ebbing out as written tradition takes centre stage. Ruth Finegan (1978, 1) captures the place of oral literature in Africa as follows: Africa possesses both written and unwritten traditions. The former are relatively well known, at any rate the recent writings in European languages (much work remains to be publicised on earlier Arabic and local written literatures in Africa). The unwritten forms, however, are far less widely known and appreciated. Such forms do not fit neatly into the familiar categories of literate cultures, they are harder to record and present, and, for a superficial observer at least, they are easier to overlook than the corresponding reading material. This notwithstanding, Africans still rely on oral tradition, especially those in the rural areas of the continent. The relevance of the media to literature, especially in a setting where the reading culture is gradually and imperceptibly ebbing out, cannot be overemphasised. Reading and writing are more demanding than talking and listening. The printed text is therefore not enough if literature must be functional. The media offers the opportunity for the gap created by the limitations of the printed text to be filled. Drawing from this, Coward (1990, 9) asserts that .”..The mass media 97 have been used to give an additional boost to ideas about literature as the true place where cultural values can be found.” A work is not complete until it reaches an audience. The manner in which it reaches the audience becomes of interest. And the mass media provides a much-needed channel for a work to reach its audience as it gives room for a possibility...