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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Turner-Schechner model of performance as social drama: a re-examination in the light of Anlo-Ewe 'haló' |
Author: | Avorgbedor, Daniel |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Research in African Literatures |
Volume: | 30 |
Issue: | 4 |
Pages: | 144-155 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ghana |
Subjects: | Anlo musicals |
External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v030/30.4avorgbedor.pdf |
Abstract: | 'Haló' is a proscribed performance event that centres on interpersonal and intergroup hostilities among the Anlo-Ewe of Ghana. This event represents a climax and choreographed articulation of conflicts, tensions, and hostilities among performing groups in a village (or from two villages) and among individuals from different performing groups. Individual acts or behaviours that significantly depart from accepted norms (e.g. theft, incest, miscegenation) are often the target of 'haló' performances. This essay isolates dramaturgic procedures in 'haló' performance and evaluates them with reference to the hypothetical and theoretical ideas of Victor Turner and Richard Schechner. The procedures are situated in the context of their significant social and aesthetic formulations and according to the manner in which they enhance the communication of dramatic impulse. The influence of the social framework, the deliberate framing or staging (with set rules and procedures), and the competitive engagement of rival groups in 'haló' clarifies the notion of social drama, as propounded in the works of Turner and Schechner. Bibliogr., notes. |