Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on Essinga (2008) a play created and performed by a group of deportees and refugees in Bamako and investigates how it has inaugurated a new genre of militant and protest theatre.

Paper long abstract:

In the last few years, Malian popular theatrical practices have expanded the repertoire of "conscientization theater" (Barber 2000, Mda 1993) by drawing extensively on dramatic experiences of migration. Stimulated by local forms of activism, these productions intend to participate in the reconfiguration of conventional politics and discourses on migration. This paper focuses on one play, Essinga (2008) which by contrast with the dominant productions, has been created and performed by a group of deportees and refugees of diverse nationalities confined in Bamako. It investigates how through the use of personal experiences of migration and within the highly codified Malian popular theater, Essinga has inaugurated a new genre of militant and protest theatre. It shows how Essinga has established new aesthetics, deriving from specific modes of adaptation of personal experiences, improvisation, juxtaposition of African repertoires and a performance relying on exuberance, eccentricity and extravaganza. In addition, the paper focuses on the innovative interaction with the audience implemented by the actors and examines how Essinga performed only during protests, rallies and workshops on migration policies, stimulates participation and adhesion to its radical discourse on migration practices, the freedom of movement of West African people and the deconstruction of the figure of the migrant.