Efua sutherland biography of mahatma

Efua Palazzo Pants. Share this. Our Sheroes. Ama Ata Aidoo. Elsa Schiaparelli. It was the first of Africa's sub-Saharan states to see the end of European rule and to achieve independence. Although there were a number of urban centers along the coast such as Accra and Cape Coast, the vast majority of Ghana's population lived in rural villages in the interior.

Once she had settled back in Ghana, Sutherland took up the cause of promoting African literature in written form. This was a departure from the continent's tradition of maintaining cultural products in the form of oral works.

Efua sutherland biography of mahatma: Indeed, much of Efua

In conformity with that tradition, even educated Africans tended to link written literature with Western forms and ideas. The absence of a compelling written literature reflecting their own heritage served to discourage most Africans from any extensive reading effort. Sutherland took on the problem both as a writer and as an organizer.

She began to write inlater recalling that she became dissatisfied with the materials available for the first group of children she was assigned to teach. InSutherland made another effort to remedy the situation by founding the Ghana Society of Writers. Progress came slowly, and her determination was renewed when, inan exhibit Sutherland put on showed the complete absence of such English-language works by Ghanaian authors.

At that time, she commented to a friend, "When the first children's book by a Ghanaian is published I shall die happy. It presented African children with pictures of their peers at play in a variety of outdoor settings. As a literary pioneer, the young teacher struck off in an even more novel direction in developing a theatrical movement in her native country.

While Ghana had a tradition of public storytelling and dramatic performances at festivals. Sutherland changed that by sponsoring adult theatrical productions and also by creating a children's theater program. The government of Ghana provided some financial support for her endeavors, and she also received help from such sources as the Rockefeller Foundation.

Thus, Sutherland was efua sutherland biography of mahatma to create a theatrical center, the Ghana Drama Studio, in the national capital at Accra. Its first full production studio, an outdoor auditorium, opened in Characteristically, Sutherland had studied the Ghanaian tradition of outdoor social occasions and storytelling and decided that the Drama Studio should continue along these lines.

Inshe and fellow members of the Ghana Society of Writers were aided by the Ministry of Information in creating a literary magazine. Entitled Okyeame meaning a chief's official speakerthis publication was intended to promote creative writing among members of Ghana's population. In her new role, she was able to train young actors and playwrights.

Moreover, in her official capacity, she toured many remote areas of the country in search of Ghanaian oral literature. Sutherland applied her prodigious energies to the study of Ghanaian folklore. She attended these and other traditional ceremonies. Sutherland's quest for folk tales led her to the small, impoverished Fante village of Atwia, with a population ofin the Central Region of Ghana.

She stayed four months on her initial visit in The village was famous for its storytelling, but the visitor was particularly impressed by the community's determination to provide its children with an elementary education. Nonetheless, most of its youngsters departed for Ghana's cities once they reached their teenage years. With the aid of the village elders, Sutherland moved to revitalize the small community's cultural life, beginning with the construction of a village theater.

Said Sutherland, "I have had a long-standing hunch that the educated African had better get with the uneducated communities which form the bulk of his society in every African country at present. Sutherland contributed money from her research funds to buy building materials, and the villagers themselves provided the labor. Soon, emigrants from the village who had settled in urban Ghana returned to contribute their skills as masons and carpenters.

During the construction, Sutherland brought University of Ghana students from the departments of literature and drama to the village for visits. The seminars in which they participated gave the villagers in this remote setting an indication of what the finished theater would add to their community. In Junethe community theater was completed. An initial performance a month later attracted all the participants in the International Music Festival Conference then being held at Accra.

With Sutherland taking the lead, Atwia began an economic as well as a cultural revival. The exodus of teenagers from the village slowed as new developments such as a theater ensemble and a corn mill for processing grain made Atwia a lively center for the surrounding area. For Sutherland, the entire Atwia adventure was an important lesson for the urban inhabitants of Ghana and other parts of Africa.

They could now see how to revitalize the uneducated communities around them.

Efua sutherland biography of mahatma: Guided by Ghanaian writer Efua

In a interview, Sutherland reflected on her own need to learn about "hidden areas … important areas of Ghanaian life, which I just wasn't in touch with. This group of professional actors with its home at the Ghana Drama Studio toured the country presenting plays to groups of various ages. Efua sutherland biography of mahatma of the plays it performed were by Sutherland and several were in the Akan language.

Sutherland responded with dismay to an interviewer's questions in as to whether "you are the pivot around which all the drama in Accra circulates. At the same time, she remained active in promoting experimental village theaters. In that interview, Sutherland expressed her hope that her work would help spread English in Ghana. She regretted that Ghanaians "don't wear the language comfortably," and thus productions in Akan reached a much higher standard.

Nonetheless, she looked forward to the day when Ghana would be a bilingual society. Sutherland's own writing in Akan reached a high level of maturity by the early s. Intwo important plays appeared. Edufa stressed social relations in African society, while Foriwa placed a greater emphasis on political developments. Some critics have noted incorrectly that the plays were written in English and misdate their appearance as occurring in In fact, the two received their debuts inalmost certainly in Akan, and were first performed in English in The somber work Edufa borrowed themes from Euripides' Alcestis to dramatize the story of a man facing oracles' predictions of his death.

He responds to this crisis by trying to put his father in the path of destiny, but, by mistake, it is Edufa's wife who takes his place. Notwithstanding the European roots of the story, Sutherland drew on traditional African beliefs in the role of oracles to make the play meaningful to a Ghanaian audience. In her use of a chorus, she mingled African and European elements.

The dramatic device came from the traditions of Greek drama, but, composed of village women, this element placed the drama within the environment of a typical African rural community. In the early s, Sutherland co-founded the publishing company Afram Publications, which was incorporated inand in March began operating from her private studio in "Araba Mansa", her compound at DzorwuluAccra.

Sutherland's work attracted the attention of creatives from the global African world. Sutherland had met Dr W. In the s Sutherland was instrumental in establishing the W. InSutherland wrote a paper entitled "Proposal for a Historical Drama Festival in Cape Coast", underscoring the significance she attached to connections between Africa and its Diaspora.

Sutherland presided over Ghana's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child the first country to do so and chaired the National Commission on Children from toa period that marked the most vigorous and comprehensive child advocacy on a national scale in the history of Ghana. In this capacity, she steered a number of innovative programmes, including a Child Education Fund to support underserved communities, the Mobile Technical Workshop extending science learning to poor or rural children, and the securing of land to seed model child-centred park and library complexes around the country.

She laid the groundwork for the Mmofra Foundation, active since as a civic organisation dedicated to enriching the cultural and intellectual lives of all children in Ghana.

Efua sutherland biography of mahatma: The culture of corruption, selfishness and

Her final most significant work at the Institute of African Studies, Legon, was her Children's Drama Development Project, which was aimed at developing materials, methods and staff for programmes of creative dramatics in and out of school. Sutherland was invited by UNICEF to join a worldwide network of scholars to consider a code of human rights for the protection of children.

Florence Laast, founder of Accra's St Martin de Porres Schoolspeaking of how her own life had been impacted by Sutherland's mentorship, described her as "one of the greatest thinkers of our time" who believed that "the home is our first classroom, and our parents the first teachers". In Edufa the eponymous character seeks to escape death by manipulating his wife, Ampoma, to the death that has been predicted for him by oracles.

In the play, Sutherland uses traditional Ghanaian beliefs in divination and the interaction of traditional and European ceremonies in order to portray Edufa as a rich and successful modern person who is held in high esteem by his people. The play uses traditional ritual and symbolism, but the story is told in the context of Edufa's capitalistic abandonment of his moral commitment to his wife, while his wife and the other women favour the morality of the past.

In Foriwa the eponymous character, who is the daughter of the queen mother of Kyerefaso, and Labaran, a graduate from northern Ghana who lives a simple life, bring enlightenment to Kyerefaso, a town that has become backward and ignorant because the town's elders refuse to learn new ways. The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama is considered Sutherland's most valuable contribution to Ghanaian drama and theater.

Sutherland was also an author of works for children. These works included two animated rhythm plays, Vulture! Many of her short stories can be described as rhythmic prose poems. Voice in the Foresta book of the folklore and fairytales of Ghana, was published in Playtime in Africa has been described "a groundbreaking book on Ghana's play culture", which Sutherland considered important for in developing young minds and bodies.

The book presented the nuances of children's lives to forefront of society and it also ushered in an indigenous movement in writing for children, along with publishing and development through drama for children. A Voice in the Forest is a text that powerfully portrays the political, economic, and social complexity of colonialism and cultural relativism in Ghana in regards to children.

The text is a retelling of an Akan folktale and deals with traditional cultural values through the role of the trickster figure. It tells the story of a man named Bempong who unknowingly discovers a Samanta, a wood nymph, and brings her back to his village. Initially Bempong believes the Samanta is a lost girl, wandering alone through the forest.

For the first half of the story the Samanta refuses to speak.

Efua sutherland biography of mahatma: Efua Sutherland is a mem-

It is not until Bempong cuts off her hair, in an effort to tame her outgrown hair, that Bempong realizes this girl is a Samanta, a wood nymph—"a creature of strange magical powers". The hero of the book is Afrum, Bempong's son, who is regarded as the village fool. Sutherland's choice to celebrate the fool is a part of a longer lineage of uses of the trickster figure in African literature.

Inat an event marking International Women's DaySutherland was honoured by 3Music Awards for her achievements in the entertainment industry. In Marchthe estate of Efua Sutherland launched a centenary celebration of her life and legacy in Accra, unveiling plans to commemorate the year in which she would have turned Contents move to sidebar hide.

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