BDB Bertsolaritzaren datu-basea

This study looks at play and work songs of the Dagaaba in north western Ghana as verbal art performance and how modernity has influenced the vitality of these indigenous performances. Performance studies remain a contested subject as it cuts across disciplines. However, the overarching theme in scholarship on performance defines it as a paradigm-driven concept which needs to be discussed in context. Aligning with this position, play and work songs of the Dagaaba is studied as performance in the context of an activity in motion as theorised by Richard Schechner. By investigating the vitality of play and work songs of the Dagaaba, I set out to draw attention to the declining nature of indigenous performance. I argue that social change, an inevitable phenomenon which has swept through the Dagaaba land, has halted the motion of play and work songs performances – hence its vitality – and call for alternative platforms to revitalise performances to ensure continuity.

Using the qualitative approach, this study focuses on play and work songs as indigenous art forms among the Dagaaba. The main objective of this study is to unearth the influence of modernity on indigenous Dagaaba performances. Specifically, the study seeks to investigate the role of play and work songs as traditional verbal art performances in the Dagaaba community. The study also aims at exploring the manifestations of modernity in the Dagaaba community as well as analyses the perceived impacts of modernity on play and work song performances of the Dagaaba. In addition, the study investigates alternative platforms for indigenous performances.

The study finds farming, domestic chores, recreation, environmental rituals, ancestor veneration, and rites of passage as some platforms that sanction the performance of indigenous art forms. The study however finds that modernity has influenced these performances and identifies formal education, Christianity, technology, industrialisation, and urbanisation among others as causes of this change. The study discovers meeting places of identifiable groups and competitions of indigenous performances as alternative platforms for continuity and vitality of play and work songs performances.

The study reveals, based on songs collected, that play and work songs satisfy Bauman’s analysis of verbal art as performance. Analysis of songs collected responds to what Baumann identified as the frames of communication, communication devices and keying in performance which provides the audience a structure within which to interpret and appreciate the text.
The study contributes to scholarship on performance studies by propounding play and work songs as accessorial performance. It concludes that though play and work songs are vital in the social organisation of the Dagaaba, they are gradually losing their places due to the influence of modernity.

Declaration … … i
Abstract … … ii - v
Acknowledgements … … vi
Table of contents … … vii - xi
List of figures and tables … … xii
Glossary of Dagaare words … … xiii - xv
CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background: The Dagaaba of north western Ghana … … 1 - 7
1.2 Rationale and Problem Statement … … 7 - 11
1.3 Research Questions and Objective of the Study … … 11 - 12
1.4 Theoretical Framework … … 12 - 15
1.5 Methodology and Research Design … … 15 - 16
1.6 Ethical Clearance … … 17 - 18
1.7 Organisational Structure of the Study … … 18 - 19
1.8 Researcher Positionality … … 19 - 21
1.9 Delineation of the study … … 21 - 22
1.9.1 Indigenous Performance … … 22
1.9.2 Modernity … … 22 – 23
1.9.3 Vitality … … 23
1.9.4 Verbal arts … … 23 - 24
CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Introduction … … 25 - 29
2.2 The Songs of the Dagaaba … ... 29 - 36
2.2.1 Play Songs … … 36 - 37
2.2.2 Work Songs … … 37 - 41
2.3 Introduction to Performance Theories … … 41 - 45
2.4 Schechner’s Performance Theory and the Fuwra (fan) … … 46 - 52
2.5 Social Performance Theory … … 52 - 53
2.6 Verbal Art as Performance and the Factors that drive Performance 53 - 55
2.7 Conclusion … … 55 - 56
CHAPTER THREE – METHODOLOGY AND FIELDWORK
3.1 Introduction … … 57
3.2 Research Methodology … … 57 - 58
3.3 Research Approach: Ethnography … … 58 - 59
3.4 Data Collection Methods and Instruments … … 59 - 60
3.4.1 Interviews … … 60 - 62
3.4.2 Focus Group Discussions … … 62 - 63
3.4.3 Participant Observation … … 63 - 65
3.4.4 Data Management … … 65
3.5 Sampling … … 65 - 66
3.5.1 Sampling Techniques … … 66 - 67
3.5.2 Selected Communities … … 67 - 73
3.5.3 Population Sample with Communities … … 73 - 74
3.5.4 Sample size selection … … 74 - 76
3.6 Challenges and Mitigation … … 76
3.7 Summary and Conclusion … … 77
CHAPTER FOUR – THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCES IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE DAGAABA
4.1 Social Organisation and Political Institutions … … 78 - 82
4.1.1 Kinship System … … 82 - 83
4.1.2 Yiilo (lineage/clan) … … 83 - 85
4.1.3 Bɛlo (descent group) … … 85 - 86
4.1.4 Tengan … … 86 - 87
4.1.5 Tengan sob … … 87 - 89
4.1.6 Naa … … 89 - 91
4.1.7 Pog naa … … 91 - 93
4.2 Social Control Mechanisms of the Dagaaba … … 93 - 94
4.2.1 Kyiiro (taboos) … … 95 - 97
4.2.2 Dumé (totems) … … 97 - 99
4.2.3 Langne (dirges) … … 99 - 100
4.2.4 Songs … … 100 - 101
4.3 Conclusion … … 101 - 102
CHAPTER FIVE – INDIGENOUS PERFORMANCE AND MODERNITY
5.1 Indigenous Performances of the Dagaaba … … 103 - 104
5.1.1 Recognition of the Environment as a shared space … … 104 - 105
5.1.2 Respite pathway … … 105 - 107
5.1.3 Lineage and Ancestor Veneration … … 107 - 108
5.1.4 Rite of Passage … … 108 - 109
5.1.5 Social Competence and Community Solidarity … … 109 - 110
5.1.6 Accompaniment of Activities … … 110 - 111
5.2 Vitality of Play and Work Songs of the Dagaaba … … 111 - 114
5.2.1 Avenue for Performances … … 114 - 115
5.2.2 Social Variations … … 115 - 116
5.2.3 Economic Variations … … 116
5.3 Modernity … … 116 -124
5.3.1 Industrialisation … … 124 - 126
5.3.2 Urbanisation … … 126 - 127
5.3.3 Formal Education … … 127 - 129
5.3.4 Religion … … 129 - 131
5.3.5 Technology … … 131 - 132
5.4 Transformation of Indigenous Performances … … 132 - 134
5.5 Conclusion … … 134 - 135
CHAPTER SIX – ANALYSIS OF COLLECTED PLAY AND WORK SONGS
6.1 Introduction … … 136 - 137
6.2 Propounded Theory … … 137
6.3 Aim of Collected Songs … … 137
6.3.1 Work Songs … … 137
6.3.2 Play Songs … … 138
6.4 Play and Work Songs as Verbal Art … … 138- 139
6.5 Influence of Modernity on Text of Songs … … 139 - 140
6.6 Motivation for Composition … … 140 - 141
Collected songs … … 142 - 166
CHAPTER SEVEN – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1 Overview of Study … … 167 - 168
7.2 Summary of Findings … … 168 - 170
7.3 Conclusion … … 170
7.4 Recommendation … … 171 - 172
7.5 Proposed Further Research … … 172 - 173
Bibliography … … 174 - 189
Addendum … … 190 - 198
List of figures and tables
Figure 1: Fan model (Schechner, 2003: xvii) … … 13
Figure 2: The fuwra … … 49
Figure 3: Neἐr (grinding stone) … … 51
Figure 4: Map of study areas (Appropriated by author from Ghana Statistical Service) 73
Figure 5: Basic group composition of the Dagaaba (the author’s creation) … … 81
Figure 6: Play song performance (Christian Women Association, Fielmuo, 8 March 2020) 130