Performative Inter-Actions in African Theatre 1: Diaspora Representations and the Interweaving of Cultures explores the idea that, in and from their various locations around the world, the plays of the African diaspora acknowledge and pay homage to the cultures of home, while simultaneously articulating a sense of their Africanness in their various inter-actions with their host cultures. Contributions in Diaspora Representations and the Interweaving of Cultures equally attest to the notion that the diaspora – as we see it – is not solely located outside of the African continent itself, but can be found in those performances in the continent that engage performatively with the West and other parts of the world in that process of articulating identity.
Professor Osita Okagbue is the founding President of the African Theatre Association (AfTA) and founding and current Editor of African Performance Review (APR). He is also an Associate Editor for Routledge’s Theatres of the World Series. His published works include African Theatres and Performances (Routledge, 2007), Culture and Identity in African and Caribbean Theatre (Adonis and Abbey, 2009), and African Theatre: Diasporas (James Currey), co-edited with Christine Matzke. Professor Okagbue teaches in, and is Deputy Head of, the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.