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The following is a new publication which might interest you. More information at info@rodopi.nl <mailto:info@rodopi.nl> Odún Discourses, Strategies, and Power in the Yorùbá Play of Transformation Cristina Boscolo Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York, NY 2009. XXX, 337 pp. (Cross/Cultures 111) ISBN: 978-90-420-2680-3 Bound ISBN: 978-90-420-2681-0 E-Book Online info: <http://www.rodopi.nl/senj.asp?BookId=CC+111> A poetic 'voice' scans the rhythm of academic research, telling of the encounter with ?dún; then the voice falls silent. What is then raised is the dust of a forgotten academic debate on the nature of theatre and drama, and the following divergent standpoints of critical discourses bent on empowering their own vision, and defining themselves, rather, as counterdiscourses. This, the first part of the book: a metacritical discourse, on the geopolitics (the inherent power imbalances) of academic writing and its effects on ?dún, the performances dedicated to the gods, ancestors, and heroes of Yorùbá history. But ?dún: where is it? and what is it? And the 'voice'? The many critical discourses have not really answered these questions. In effect, ?dún is many things. To enable the reader to see these, the study proceeds with an 'intermezzo': a frame of reference that sets ?dún, the festival, in its own historico-cultural ecoenvironment, identifying the strategies that inform the performance and constitute its aesthetic. It is a 'classical' yet, for ?dún, an innovative procedure. This interdisciplinary background equips the reader with the knowledge necessary to watch the performance, to witness its beauty, and to understand the 'half words' ?dún utters. And now the performance can begin. The 'voice' emerges one last time, to introduce the second section, which presents two case studies. The reader is led, day by day, through the celebrations -?dún edì, M?rèmi's story, and its realization in performance; then confrontation by the masks of the ancestors duing ?dún egúngún (particularly as held in Ibadan). The meaning of ?dún becomes clearer and clearer. ?dún is poetry, dances, masks, food, prayer. It is play (eré) and belief (ìgbàgbó). It is interaction between the players (both performers and spectators). It is also politics and power. It contains secrets and sacrifices. It is a reality with its own dimension and, above all, as the quintessential site of knowledge, it possesses the power to transform. In short, it is a challenge - a challenge that the present book and its voices take up.
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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