Africana Periodical Literature 
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| Title: | Crossing the 'Zaure': theatre for development and women's empowerment in Northern Nigeria |
| Author: | Ewu, Jumai |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Periodical: | African Performance Review |
| Volume: | 1 |
| Issue: | 2-3 |
| Pages: | 75-97 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Nigeria Northern Nigeria |
| Subjects: | theatre development women |
| Abstract: | Dominant strategies of development in the developing world have been criticized by development activists for failing to involve the people, particularly at grassroots level. Until recently, relatively little attention has been paid to how development as a whole has increased the gender gap. The focus of this paper is on Theatre for Development (TfD) and women's empowerment in Northern Nigeria. TfD emerged in the mid-1970s in the then drama section of the English department of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. It is a grassroots community theatre practice that challenges the socioeconomic and political oppression that continues to undermine genuine popular participation in development. Its primary purpose is to utilize popular performance to facilitate community participation in development through democratic dialogue, decisionmaking and collective action. Tar Ahura, one of the pioneers of TfD in Nigeria, had suggested that the task of practitioners is not 'to force a cultural revolution on the people but to work within the cultural provisions'. More than two decades later his views are still echoed by practitioners. The paper examines the evolution of TfD in Nigeria, highlights the challenges facing the practice in its attempt to facilitate women's participation in development, and evaluates the effectiveness of the strategies employed to encourage women's participation. It argues that the factors responsible for the marginalization of women in development are cultural and economic; that the desire by practitioners not to be perceived as a threat to a community's cultural beliefs and values amounts to a contradiction. It suggests that any genuine attempt to mobilize women through cultural activities must be matched with a commitment to challenge and transform culture itself. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |