College of Performing and Visual Arts

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Browsing College of Performing and Visual Arts by Subject "Ethiopian Theatre"

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    Ethiopian Theatre in the Eyes of Expatriates
    (Addis Ababa University, 2022-05-01) Eyasu Sleshi; Balew Demissie (PhD)
    Since the opening of Higher Education in Ethiopia, various foreign scholars have studied Ethiopian theater. For the past sixty-seven years, these foreign scholars have studied Ethiopian theater with the help of translators. Although the contribution of these foreign scholars to the development of Ethiopian theater is undeniable, their research findings on Ethiopian theater are often misleading. This study argues that Ethiopian theater should also be studied from an Ethiopian perspective. The aim of the study was to answer the question of how Western scholars understand Ethiopian theater and which field of theater they prefer to study. The study also revisits expatriates’ conclusions and findings about Ethiopian theater. The study had the following research questions. First, which aspect of Ethiopian theater do western writers deal with? Second, what is their generic preference in Ethiopian Theatre scholarship? Third, what are the expatriates’ conclusions and findings in study of Ethiopian theater? This study employed a comparative approach to Ethiopian theater by comparing and contrasting various local and international research findings on Ethiopian theater. The study found that most expatriates studied the historiography of Ethiopian theater. They ignored other practical and theoretical aspects of Ethiopian theatre scholarship. Most expatriates also studied the theater staged in Ethiopian theaters. Popular theater and other genres were left out of their studies. Moreover, the expatriates’ findings and conclusions about Ethiopian theater were misleading, inaccurate and biased. Still, some of the expatriates had a distorted and colonial thinking about Ethiopian theater. They often interpret their research findings from the western perspective. The study concluded that the previous studies on Ethiopian theater conducted by expatriates need further appraisal and critical evaluation. Most of the studies have been one-sided and have dealt with the theater only superficially. The study recommends that any previous study on Ethiopian theater by expatriates needs to be re-evaluated in terms of its research methods, findings, conclusions and implications.