The Figure of the Griot in Contemporary West African Theatre: Genealogy, Transformation, and Global Circulation

This dissertation investigates the transformation of the griot figure across contemporary West African theatre and its circulation within global performance markets, constructing a genealogical analysis of how this traditional oral performance role has been adapted, commodified, and contested in contemporary dramatic practice. The griot, as a specialist oral performer and custodian of historical memory across various West African cultures, has achieved significant recognition in global cultural discourse, yet the complex history of this recognition, including its romantic appropriation by Western audiences and the internal debates within West African communities about the authenticity of griot performance, remains undertheorised in performance scholarship. The research focuses on Nigeria within a broader West African comparative framework, examining how Yoruba, Hausa, and other Nigerian oral performance traditions relate to the pan-West African griot discourse. The dissertation employs a comparative performance historiography methodology, drawing on archival research, practitioner interviews across Nigeria and Senegal, and analysis of international festival programming and marketing materials. An original theoretical contribution is the dissertation's concept of griotic globalisation, which analyses the specific mechanisms by which traditional African performance roles are translated, transformed, and marketed within global performance economies. Keywords: griot, West African theatre, genealogy, global performance, oral tradition.