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- Title
Playing the Puppets.
- Authors
Arnoldi, Mary Jo
- Abstract
This article focuses on a Bamana village's theatrical tradition, on how innovation and rivalry are incorporated into the definition of puppet theatre, how they are articulated in the construction of a performance and how they shape the participants' reception of the theater. Kiranko is a moderate-sized village approximately 33 kilometers northeast of the city of Segu on the Niger river. The village is multiethnic and comprised of five neighborhoods: one Bamana, two Somono, one Bozo, and one for strangers. Most of the people in Kiranko are farmers and fishermen, although a number of individuals now work for Malian government services, schools and hospitals in the area. In the Bamana quarter the kamalen ton, the youth association, performs puppet theatre. Membership in the ton is mandatory and includes all young men from the age of 14 to over 40 and young unmarried women over age 14, regardless of lineage affiliation or social status. The association participates as a group in farming activities and local public works projects, as well as in performing puppet theatre.
- Subjects
THEATER; PERFORMING arts; PUPPET theater; PUPPET plays; BAMBARA (African people)
- Publication
TDR: The Drama Review (MIT Press), 1988, Vol 32, Issue 2, p65
- ISSN
1054-2043
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/1145852