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The Dramaturgy of the Mask Performance in Traditional African Society Author(S): Chinyere Grace Okafor Source: Research in African Literatures, Vol

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The Dramaturgy of the Mask Performance in Traditional African Society Author(S): Chinyere Grace Okafor Source: Research in African Literatures, Vol Behind the Inscrutable Wonder: The Dramaturgy of the Mask Performance in Traditional African Society Author(s): Chinyere Grace Okafor Source: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter, 1991), pp. 39-52 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820356 Accessed: 28/03/2009 23:13 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=iupress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Indiana University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Research in African Literatures. http://www.jstor.org Behind the Inscrutable Wonder: The Dramaturgy of the Mask Performance in Traditional African Society ChinyereGrace Okafor Onye Nwe ani. [Ownerof land. Onye nga-nga. The proudone. Agu Qcha! White leopard! Ngbada! Ngbada!! Deer! Deer!!] These are some of the praise names used to greet the mask-performer among the Igbo of southeasternNigeria. Similar praisesare used for the same purposein other African societies. Joel Adedeji talks about the "pledge"and "salute"in the Egungunperformance among the Yorubain southwesternNige- ria (45), and A. P. Bourgeoisrefers to the anticipatoryverses that herald the entry of the Mbala mask-performeramong the Yaka of southeastern Zaire (47-50). In each case, the object of these glowing praise names is the mask- performer- a performancewhich constitutes the inscrutablewonder of the festival theater in traditionalAfrican society. My paperexamines the aesthetics that informthis "wonder."G. T. Bas- den sees the mask-performanceas a quaintapparition (124), and L. Havemeyer describes it as an undeveloped dramaticphenomenon (111). In reality, it is neither quaint nor undeveloped. When viewed from its social context, it is full-fledgeddrama. Misunderstandingsabout the nature of traditionaldrama arise when it is evaluated on the basis of Western critical criteria, as K. Uka 40 I Researchin AfricanLiteratures does in faulting it for including elements that lie outside the realistic mode (179) or as Ruth Finnegandoes in suggestingthat it has "little or no linguistic content" (509). Such notions are inappropriatein this context because they are basedon a considerationof technique (e.g., a demandfor realisticelements and a preconceivedstandard of linguisticcontent) ratherthan on an examina- tion of the core of dramaticaction. The core of drama has three basic elements: performersengaged in mimetic action, spectators, and place of representation(which can be either indoorsor outdoors). All other elements-costume, scenery, dialogue, mime, and special effects-might aid the performer'simitative action, but they are extrinsic characteristicsthat determine the peculiarityof different dramatic traditions.The JapaneseNoh performeruses mime, music, and stylizedmove- ment as techniques of representation.The performerof the Indian Kathakali dramauses esoteric gesturesand surrealisticcostumes and make-upto simulate action that is being narrated in song, and Chinese shadow players imitate action by the use of "movingfigures made of animalskins or cardboard"(China 131). Different traditions obviously utilize different techniques to imitate action. It would thereforebe misleadingto review African mask-performance in termsof the dramatictechniques of anotherculture. In traditionalAfrican society, the techniques, the extrinsic characteris- tics that combine to depict the form and mystical auraof the drama, include music, mask, costume, dance, movement, gestures, and metaphysical ele- ments. In orderto understandthe aesthetics of the inscrutablewonder implicit in mask performance,one must regardit as a phenomenon that exists on four levels. In Figure 1, the outermost circle representsthe social context of the drama(i.e., the society in which it occurs). The following circle representsthe performancearena (the theater). The third circle representsthe supernatural quality, and the fourthstands for the specifictechniques employed. The inner- most level embracesthe performanceitself. Factsabout traditionalAfrican societies are more readilyaccessible than informationabout African performance,but it is evident that African theater derives its natureand credibilityfrom the world-viewof the society in which it is performed.This world-view is invariablybased on a spiritualpattern that is reflectedin the social organization.It recognizessix basiccategories: gods, spir- its, humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects (Imasogie 16). All these categories share the same universe with human beings, and all are linked by their relationship with people, who are ontologically viewed as the center of existence. In attempting to maintain cosmic balance, humans become impli- cated with the other categories. For example, they invoke gods and spiritsby means of rituals, myths, and performativeenactments, all of which reflect humanity'sdependence on the other categoriesand the possibilitythat people can harnessother forces in the cosmos. The centrality of the human is demonstratedin the masking theater. Although elements of this theater seem inexplicable, the performanceitself ChinyereGrace Okafor 1 41 Fig. 1: The outermost circle representsthe social context of the drama (i.e., the society in which it occurs). The following circle representsthe performancearena (the theater). The third circle representsthe super- naturalquality, and the fourthstands for the specifictechniques employed. The innermostlevel embracesthe performanceitself. remains the handiwork of human beings and reflects their mastery over their environment. The Anakpe play of the Gbari of northern Nigeria illustrates this point. Anakpe is a performance that involves type characters such as hunters, animals, and hunters' wives (Zhiri 11). Hunters are distinguished by their cos- tume of animal skin as well as by their hunting bags, bows, and arrows. The ani- mal characters wear masks depicting animals. Through mime, dance, and 42 I Researchin AfricanLiteratures stylized movement, the charactersportray the conflict between hunters and animals for the possessionof the land. During the dramaticaction, the chief hunter wounds an animal and is about to take possessionof it when it injures him. Other hunters quickly run to his rescue. They kill the antagonist and throughthe use of incantations and herbalmedicine restorethe chief hunter's health. At this point the chorus of hunters'wives enters the arena to sing and celebratethe victory. The hunters'play dramatizesthe mythicalstory of the originof the Gbini people. It symbolizes man's victory over the forces of the environment. Becausethe protagonistsneed animalsfor food and clothing, they must neces- sarilysubdue them. The theatricalportrayal of the subjugationof the animals thus becomes a symbolfor the people'smastery of nature. It restoresthe confi- dence of the hunting community in its ability to control its affairsnot just on the basisof its own strengthbut also thanksto the co-operationof other catego- ries. Spirits are involved as the result of incantations, and the use of plants is suggestedby the use of medicinalherbs. Yet the humanremains at the center of the presentation. Everycategory in the African ontology is invested with two sides-two aspects of the same being and two kinds of the same category. This idea is informedby the society's notion of spirit and matter, destructive and useful, good and bad (Kalu 42). Such dualities exist side-by-sidein life and also com- bine within a single object. Like classicalGreek society, which accommodates the realityof Zeusand the transmigrationof spiritsfrom the ElysianFields to the human world, traditionalAfrican society admits of a free movement of spirits and humansbetween their respectiverealms. For example, the pantheon of the Yorubaof Nigeria clearly illustratesthe movement of the gods to and from the chthonic realm. Sango descended to earth and became a king in Oyo. In his moment of weakness,piqued by humanfrailty, he slew both friendand foe. He later transmigratedto the chthonic realm (Roscoe 185 and Beier 188). The transcendentalview of life also extends to human affairs,for people too can transcendthe barriersof their own world and move into another one. Death, for example, constitutes a transitionalphase in one form of this move- ment. Soyinka even refersto it as the "gulfof transition"(48). He contends that, accordingto the Yorubaworld-view, this gulfexists between three areasof existence: past, present, and future. A link between the three areasexists in other African societies as well.
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