Apoyo para la generación de condiciones de seguridad para el retorno.

The thesis studies the educational use of Ibsen dramas in Ghanaian theatre institutions and considers ways in which Ibsen dramas could be promoted to Ghanaian audiences. The first Chapter worked as a prologue to the study outlining the research problems, objectives, theories, significance of the study and a general overview of how the study was organized. The Chapter reported that due to the fact that formal education in Ghana was established by the British government, most resources and models used in the Ghanaian educational systems are modeled on British standards. As a result of this, the formal educational of theatre

students is largely dependent on western dramas, this includes the work of Henrik Ibsen. However there is little information available on the ways Ibsen dramas are used within the Ghanaian education system. With a theoretical diagram structured on the developmental stages of theatre in Ghana, opening with pre-colonial theatre, concert party theatre, then to the National Theatre Movement, Chapter one provided readers with an overview to

contextualize the research findings on theatre education in Ghana revealed in later chapters. To advance the study, I discussed Toril Moi’s claim that Ibsen dramas are obligatory books required reading in introductory courses on modern theatre; it questioned the use of Ibsen dramas in theatre institutions. I later used Helen Gilbert and Joan Tompkins Post-colonial theory to study how Ibsen dramas can be adapted to shake the remnants of colonial thinking as it exists within performance practice.

The second Chapter described the context of study. The Chapter looked at Ghana, politics, education, economy and social life of Ghanaians. It served as backdrop to analyze views and comments of respondents for the examination of the discourses in Ibsen dramas. With a section on gender, religion and culture, the Chapter presented how certain issues are critical in most Ghanaian societies despite cultural diversity among ethnic groups. The essence of communal living, role of the family, and kinship, and the classification of matrilineal and patrilineal groups like the Akans, Gas, and Ewes were discussed in the Chapter. An important aspect of Chapter two was the history of politics in Ghana. In that section, I tried to introduce my claim that theatre performances in Ghana failed to survive after Nkrumah and the CPP due to the political instability and military takeovers that occurred in Ghana after 1966. Chapter two ended with an overview of Ghana’s economy. It discussed the agricultural,

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mining, public employment and oil sector with my view on how corruption has affected all aspects of the economy.

Chapter three presented an overview of Ghana’s educational system. In an attempt to provide a context for analysis of Ibsen’s place within Ghanaian curricula, the Chapter previewed readers to pre-colonial education systems of apprenticeship which limited most young men to their father’s trade and prepared women for marriage and small jobs like petty trading and pottery. The main part of the Chapter focused on post-colonial / formal education in Ghana. The section traced formal education to the establishment of castle schools by colonial masters, merchants and missionaries. The role of the British government in the development of formal education in Ghana was also discussed in the Chapter. To advance the study to the level of education at which Ibsen dramas are used in Ghana, the Chapter reviewed the history of higher education starting with the Achimota School and concluded with the School of Performing Arts, Ghana.

The central theme of this research was discussed in the fourth Chapter. Divided into three sections, the Chapter opened with a juxtaposition of A Doll’s House and indigenous Ghanaian gender roles in order to ascertain the relevance of Ibsen dramas to Ghanaian contemporary societies. In the section, I discussed gender performativity theories together with critiques from A Doll’s House that tied the play to topical issues affecting Ghanaian women

attributable to the unequal distribution of gender roles. The family as an agent of socialization in indigenous and contemporary Ghanaian communities was examined. I argued that the process of socialization in the home starts within the family where women are conditioned to a mind-set that makes it natural for men to dominate them. It was also observed that due to strict distinction in the roles, it is difficult for individuals to accept change in the performance of roles. Secondly, the role of religious organizations in educating followers was examined. With a quote from the Holy Bible of Christians which entreats women to submit to their husbands and quotes from the Holy Quran, I criticized teachings of religious groups which put women in a lower standing and therefore empowers men. With a discussion on attitudes of married couples and their families in Ghana, I tried to identify how the performance of gender roles in marriage put women in a lower standing than men. My goal in comparing Nora’s character to the performance of unequal gender roles in Ghana was to locate Ibsen’s dramatic discourse within contemporary Ghanaian societies. Thus the claim that gender roles ascribed to women by Ghanaian societies can be likened to Nora’s situation in A Doll’s

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House making the text a reflection of life in Ghanaian communities and that has contributed

to the constant use of the text in some Ghanaian universities.

The main part of Chapter four was centred on the pedagogical use of Ibsen dramas in the University of Ghana and University of Cape Coast. The section opened with a short historical overview of Ibsen’s introduction to the academic syllabus of University of Ghana and traced the history of tuition of his plays within the school. Various courses were examined and the research findings with interviews from course instructors and students were considered. Courses like Modern European Drama, Dramatic Theory and Criticism and African Theories of Drama where discussed in details to identify factors accounting for the constant use of A

Doll’s House at the University of Ghana. A similar approach was used to review courses like

Play Analysis and Interpretation and Modern Drama at the University of Cape Coast. Chapter four studied the performance history of Ibsen dramas in the two universities. The

performance history indicated that Ibsen’s A Doll’s House has been performed once at the University of Ghana and never performed at the University of Cape Coast even though excerpts of Ibsen dramas are used in teaching students Introduction to Acting. Observing that Ibsen has a poor performance history in the two major universities, the Chapter concluded with an outline of possible reasons for non-performance of Ibsen dramas in these academic theatres.

Chapter five built on the reasons accounting for non-performance of Ibsen dramas in Ghanaian theatres and the observations from preceding Chapters. It focussed on possible approaches to the future promotion of Ibsen in Ghana. The core argument for the Chapter was that Ibsen dramas need to be promoted beyond the academic institutions in Ghana if future adaptations are going to respond to the needs of indigenous audiences. The Chapter started with an analysis of Nneora: an African Doll’s House, a free Nigerian adaption of Ibsen’ Dolls

House. I examined similarities and differences between the text and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House

in order to present readers with the features that make Nneora: an African Doll’s House suitable for African stages. An essential aspect of the analysis was my attempt to locate Utoh- Ezeajugh’s dramatic discourse and changes in the plot within contemporary Ghanaian

societies. The second and third parts of Chapter five were focused on my interest in

promoting Ibsen to Ghanaian audiences using the indigenous Ghanaian performance practices of storytelling and concert party popular theatre. With an overview of Ghana’s concert party theatre and storytelling traditions, readers were introduced to performance practices that

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existed in Ghana before colonization. The section looked at an Ibsen project in Ghana which employed the storytelling genre to give readers an overview of how I intend to present Ibsen to indigenous Ghanaian story lovers. I finally presented my own version of An Enemy of the

People and A Doll’s House developed for indigenous Ghanaian performance forms of

storytelling and concert party theatre. The intent of the adaptions was to propose ways in which Ibsen’s works could be adapted for indigenous Ghanaian audiences to shake out the remnants of colonial performance practices, and most importantly, provoke social debate among audiences through the discourses imbedded in Ibsen dramas.