Schmidt, Kathrin. 2021. Performing Salone: The impact of local and global flows on the aesthetics and ecology of contemporary Krio theatre in Sierra Leone. Post-Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

Preview

Text (Performing Salone: The impact of local and global flows on the aesthetics and ecology of contemporary Krio theatre in Sierra Leone) MED_Thesis_SchmidtK_2021.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

This thesis analyses contemporary Krio theatre in Sierra Leone (‘Salone’ in the country’s lingua franca, Krio) within the context of a continuum of local and global flows of people, media, images, technologies, finance and ideas, and ensuing hybridisation. Rooted in the perspective of postcolonial and cultural studies, which show that cultures and their expressions are of synthetic nature and thus fundamentally hybrid products of continuously changing flows, this research focuses on two different but interlinked aspects: Firstly, the impact of historical, cultural, political, economic and social factors on contemporary theatre aesthetics; secondly, these factors’ influence on the structural, institutional and policy context. The methodology is based on qualitative research, analysed from a political economy perspective. It employs an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, situated at the intersection of postcolonial, cultural, theatre, international development and cultural policy studies, to contextualise the empirical data, which was collected via a multi-method approach, combining semi-structured interviews with the analysis of Sierra Leone’s theatre ecology and its cultural policy and legislative framework. Examining cultural and creative industries and their ecology in the postcolony from the perspective of Sierra Leonean theatre, this thesis argues that cultural productions and their ecology respond to macrocosmic processes through microcosmic transformation, embedding their evolution in their specific local context. The development industry plays a complicated and dualist role within this context; vis-à-vis theatre in Sierra Leone by both circumscribing and endorsing theatre, and vis-à-vis the hybridity between ‘local’ and ‘global’ flows and the power structures that guide them. This thesis seeks to contribute to the study of Krio theatre and thereby to also address the knowledge gap regarding contemporary African cultural productions; to add to the area study of Sierra Leone; and to further insights into links between cultural production, colonial legacies, hegemonic structures, globalisation, commodification and the development industry.

Item Type:	Thesis (Post-Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00031205
Keywords:	cultural industries, culture and development, Sierra Leone, theatre, globalisation, commodification, political economy of culture
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Date:	31 December 2021
Item ID:	31205
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2022 17:47
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2022 17:19
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31205

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record (login required)