African Theatres & Performances looks at four specific performance forms in Africa and uses this to question the tendency to employ western frames of reference to analyze and appreciate theatrical performance. The book examines:

• masquerade theatre in Eastern Nigeria
• the trance and possession ritual theatre of the Hausa of Northern Nigeria
• the musical and oral tradition of the Mandinka of Senegal
• comedy and satire of the Bamana in Mali.

Osita Okagbue describes each performance in detail and discusses how each is...