Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study explores performative features of a children’s masking performance carried out among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria. Informed by the need to interrogate the cultural dimensions of the Bakhtinian notion of the carnivalesque, it discusses the extent to which some Igbo children’s masking activities resemble carnival performance. Using data drawn from fieldwork and conceptual precepts from carnivalesque theory, the study analyses Igbo children’s ekpo masking performance as a veritable kind of carnival presentation, by discussing the elements of Igbo children’s ekpo masking display which is usually characterized by humour, laughter, freedom to participate, reversal of hierarchy and merry-making. The study concludes that Igbo children’s ekpo masking presentation displays strong parallels with carnival performance.KEYWORDS: Performancecarnivalesque theoryIgbo children’s masking cultureAfrican cultural carnivalspirit possession Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Njoku, C. R. (2020). West African Masking Traditions and Diaspora Masquerade Carnivals Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 20.2. Edward L. (1988). ‘Hearing is believing: Acoustic aspects of masking in Africa’ Sidney Littlefield Kasfir (ed.) West Africa Mask and Cultural Systems Bangui: Muse royale de l’Afrique Central, 67.3. Tengan, A. (2017). ‘The Language and Philosophy of the African Mask: Masking Bagr Neophytes (Vanvankpeli) as Revelation of the Dead Ancestors’ Paper presented at the 17th Triennial Symposium on African Art, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon Campus, 2.4. Miachi, T.A. (2012). The incarnate being phenomenon in African culture: anthropological perspectives on the Igala of North-Central Nigeria. Ibadan: Kraft Books Ltd, 8.5. Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. London, Heinemann, 62.6. Ukaegbu, V.I. (1996). ‘The composite scene: the aesthetics of Igbo mask theatre.’ Thesis: University of Plymouth, 168.7. Okagbue, O. 2007. African theatres and performances. London: Routledge and Taylor, 11.8. Orji, B. E. (2022). ‘Amari-Akaghi’ – the Knowledge of the Unknown: Women and Masquerade in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.” Research in African Literatures 53:2, 148–163, 151.9. Edward L. (1988), op. cit, 67.10. Kasfir, S. L. (1998) ‘Elephant Women, Furious Masquerades in Africa and the Diaspora’ African Arts 31:2,18–27, 18.11. Ibid, 18.12. Orji, B. E. (2022) op. cit, 151.13. Richard Woodward, Qtd. in Njoku (2020), 20.14. Kasfir, S. L. (1998). op. cit, 18.15. Owens, I. (2014). ‘The Mask Making Traditions, Functions and Global Connections Among China,Africa and India’ New York: Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad to China, 3.16. Nzekwu, O. (1981). “Masquerade” Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book Yemi Ogunbiyi (ed.) Lagos: Nigerian Magazine, 134.17. Ottenberg, S. (1975). Masked Rituals of Afikpo: The Context of an African Art London & Seattle: University of Washington Press, 11.18. ibid, 134.19. Ottenberg, S. (1975), op. cit, 11.20. ibid.21. Nzekwu, O. (1981), op. cit, 134–135.22. This vital information was given by Nze Elias Egbugara, a 95-year-old man and the oldest man in Umuebonu village as at the time of the fieldtrip.23. Dawood, I. I. & Alwan, N. H. (2019). ‘Carnivalesque in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate (1989)’, 1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333966450_Carnivalesque24. ibid.25. Abraham, T. (2021). ‘Unit 2: Bakhtin’s Carnivalesque’ The People’s University (Indira Gandhi National Open University), 98.26. Pavlina, S. Y. & Baranova, M. I. (2022). ‘Embracing the Spirit of Carnival: The Grotesque and the Carnivalesque inRolando Hinjosa’s Klail City Death Trip Series’ Bakhtinian, Sao Paulo 17 (1), 125. http://dx.doi.org/10/q590/2176–45735034227. ibid.28. Haynes, B. F. (2009). ‘Elements of Carnival and Carnivalesque in Contemporary Australian Children’s Literature’ Dissertation (PhD). University of Technology, 1. https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/36464/2/02Whole.pdf29. Crichlow, M. A. & Armstrong, P. (2010). Carnival Praxis, Carnivalesque Strategies and Atlantic Interstices” Social Identities 16:4, 50–51.30. Wilson, E. (2004). The Theatre Experience 9th ed. London: McGraw Hill Inc, 17–18.31. Ottenberg, S. & Binkley, A.D. (2006). (Eds.) African children’s masquerades: playful performers, Transaction Publishers, 3.32. Ottenberg, S. (1989). Boyhood Rituals in an African Society: An Interpretation. Washington: Washington University Press, 43.33. Orji, B. E. (2019). Carnivalization of Indigenous Performance Forms and the Demystification of Ritual Essence in Costume and Mask Designs of Masquerade Art” African Theatre 18, 49. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781787446953.00434. Ibid.35. Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Rabelais and His World. trans. Helen Iswolsky. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 154.36. Ottenberg, S. (1975), op. cit, 11.37. Njoku, C. R. (2020), op. cit, 35.38. Nzekwu, O. (1981), op. cit, 13539. Abraham, T. (2021), op. cit, 99.40. Kalaman, S. & Batu, M. (2020). ‘Carnivalesque Theory and Social Networks: A Qualitative Research on TwitterAccounts in Turkey’ New Media and Visual Communication inSocial Networks Serpil Kin ed. Hershey: IGI Global, 374.41. Kolodziej-Smith, R. (2014). ‘Bakhtin and the Carnivalesque: Calling for a Balanced Analysis within Organisational Communication Studies’ Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication 13, 86.42. Owens, I. (2014), op. cit, 4.43. Reeds, D. (2001). ‘Pop Goes the Sacred: Dan Mask Performance and Popular Culture in Postcolonial Cote d’Ivoire’ Africa Today 48:4, 67–85, 67.44. Echeruo, M. J. C. (1981). ‘The Dramatic Limits of Igbo Ritual’ Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book Yemi Ogunbiyi (ed.) Lagos: Nigerian Magazine, 143.45. Woods, R. (2018). ‘What Authors Need to Know About Carnivalesque Literature’ 2. https://www.standoutbooks.com/carnivalesque-literture46. Ottenberg, S. (1989). Boyhood Rituals in an African Society: An Interpretation. Washington: Washington University Press, 43.47. Orji, B. E. (2019). Canivalization of Indigenous Performance Forms and the Demystification of Ritual Essence in Costume and Mask Designs of Masquerade Art” African Theatre 18, 49.48. Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Rabelais and His World. trans. Helen Iswolsky. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 302.49. Ibid. 750. Bakhtin, M. M. (1984), op. cit, 11–12.Additional informationNotes on contributorsBernard E. ORJIOnyebuchi NWOSU (Ph.D) is a lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Apart from holding a Bachelor, Master of Arts and Doctorate degrees in English Language and Literature, he holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Journalism. A playwright and short story writer, he has won several essay writing competitions and is a Professional English Language Teachers’ Trainer. His critical essays have been published in national and international journals with some also appearing as book chapters. His research interest is in African Oral Performance and Creative Writing. His research focus is in the areas of ascertaining the functionality of oral and scribal literary arts in societies where they are practised.Bernard Eze ORJI earned a PhD in Masquerade and Carnival Arts, from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He presently teaches and supervises students on the arts/acts of the masquerade in new Nigerian festivals at the Department of Theatre Arts, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria. He has contributed articles in WoS indexed journals and presented his researches in international conferences. His research focus is on what he considers an adequate representation of contemporary African theatre and performance forms in global artistic discourse. He adopts a critical model, commonly known as Performance Analysis, as the primary tool in most of his investigations of theatrical performances.Sylvanus E. OKOSylvanus Egwu OKO is a lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He teaches courses in English Language and Literature, and is currently running a PhD programme. His research interest is keenly on African Oral Literature with special focus on masks, masking, masquerades and the cultural practices of the Afikpo people of Southeastern Nigeria. He is currently the Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Author (ANA), Ebonyi State Branch. His essays have appeared in national and international journals.