The Turner-Schechner Model of Performance as Social Drama

A Re-Examination in the Light of Anlo-EweHal

Bibliographic Data

ID5801882
AuthorsDaniel Avorgbedor (corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume30
Issue4
Pages144-155
Publication date1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueResearch in African Literatures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/ral.1999.30.4.144
OpenAlexW2047346313
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited17

This essay isolates dramaturgic procedures in Anlo-Ewe haló performance and evaluates them along the hypothetical and theoretical ideas of Victor Turner and Richard Schechner. The procedures are situated in their significant social and aesthetic formulations and along 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 will clarify the notion of "social drama," as propounded in the works of Turner (The Anthropology of Performance; The Drums of Affliction; Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors; and From Ritual to Theatre) and Schechner (Performative Circumstances; Essays on Performance Theory; and Performance Theory). I will begin with a summary of the components of haló

Framing (construction · Performance studies · Performative utterance · Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics · Media, Communication, and Education · Theatre and Performance Studies