With the decline of oral traditions (Finnegan, 1970; Sone, 2018), it has become challenging for young Africans to learn about their culture in the same ways their forebears did, and for elders to preserve their tribes’ history and language. Considering the multiculturality of modern African societies, due to colonisation and globalisation (Folola, 2003), my research juxtaposes autoethnodrama (Denzin, 2018; Saldaña, 2011) and the practice of West African teachers known as griots (Conrad and Frank, 1995; Niane, 1960), as a radical and creative methodology to decolonise and dismantle false assumptions spread over centuries (Andinlilile, 2015) on the continent and its nations. I argue that blending autoethnodrama – a qualitative methodology assembling autobiography, ethnography, and drama intended for performance- with the oral tradition of griots enables for the design of accessible and brave spaces for Africans by Africans, to teach about their culture based on their lived experiences, while honouring the performativity of traditional African education (Moumouni, 1968). Sharing my experience as a director, playwright, and arts-based researcher in education, I use the production of my autoethnodrama Nyamakala: An African Story (2023) as an example to reflect on the impacts and limitations such performances can have on a diverse audience of academics and non-academics from all around the world. My intention is to reconcile Western and African epistemologies as an attempt to meaningfully adapt knowledge production to our post-colonial realities. Finally, I believe that my work can be of interest to any marginalised community in quest of empowering pedagogic practices.

Authors:
Marie-Ange Camara, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Marie-Ange Camara is a University Doctoral Student in Education at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on access in education in West Africa using arts-based practices as radical and decolonial methodologies.

Connect on Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marieangecamara

Additional website of interest
https://www.instagram.com/lonniyaa/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

Bookmark