Lecture Series on Arts, Cultures, Policies & Educational Practices #9
People Theatre: Journeying through Experiences of Critical Awareness and Consciousness-raising / From the “art of places” to “the place of art”: decolonization of culture and development of a transcultural dialogue
Speakers: Dr. Pepetual Mforbe and Dr. Paul Henri Souvenir Assako Assako (Yaounde/ Cameroon)
Moderation: Melanie Patzke and Luca Daberto
Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong is Assistant Professor of African Literatures and Cultures at the Institute of Asian and African Studies in the Department of African Studies, Humboldt University Berlin. The main focus of her scientific research lies in African Performative Arts in relation to postcolonial literatures, Theatre for Development, People Cinema and the representations of old age in African theatre and Performance. She is a member and executive board of the African Theatre Association (AfTA).
People Theatre: Journeying through Experiences of Critical Awareness and Consciousness-raising
This lecture explores the concept of People Theatre, concentrating on its impact on marginalised communities and individuals. The conceptualization of the theatre facilitator as a mediator between the workshop participants, the performance, and the audience is critical to the People Theatre process as it underscores the entire project of social transformation. People Theatre workshops that have taken place in communities in Cameroon and Germany demonstrated how the practice has made meaningful impact on conscientisation.
Paul-Henri Souvenir Assako Assako is Head of the Fine Arts and Art History Section at the University of Yaoundé 1 in Cameroon. He is also Director of Libre Académie des Beaux-arts (LABA) in Douala, an academy of arts and design. His research focuses on the study of visual arts from the 20th century onwards in Africa. He has conducted cooperation projects with international partners, curated exhibitions and organised conferences on Art and Creativity for Sustainable Development.
From the “art of places” to “the place of art”: decolonization of culture and development of a transcultural dialogue
In the Cameroonian artistic context, it strongly appears that the success of artistic education depends on two main levers: on the one hand, re-establishing the historical link of the endogenous artistic experience in current society and on the other hand, finding the modalities which lead art to fit into the vision of sustainable development to which contemporary society aspires. Our contribution consists in presenting some intuitions of practices which took these levers into account in the realization of some original artistic and cultural projects promoted by the private sector and international cooperation programs in Cameroon.