Paper short abstract:

The history of Kotéba is a history of connection and disruption. Urbanization and globalization have shaped the evolution of Kotéba-theatre performances in Mali, both, connecting and disrupting with original rural performance practices.

Paper long abstract:

In Mali, Kotéba-theatre has a long history and is known for being a space of "freedom of speech". In rural villages Kotéba constitutes the satirical critique, of social behaviour or stereotypes in the micro-cosmos of the community. It figures as a space where the community reflects upon itself. During the colonial period, performances were influenced by established French schools and the introduction of occidental drama, preparing an evolution in Malian theatre. Breaking with its village-bound structure, Kotéba became mobile, inducing the Kotéba National Theatre in the capital of the postcolonial, independent nation. Subsequently, the modern influences flowed back to the villages by urban theatre companies performing and reconnecting with rural districts. Kotéba-theatre was in the center of a young nation longing for cultural self-re-creation through reconnection to cultural roots (Diawara 1980, Traoré 2014). Since, Kotéba has become an important communication channel on a multimedial level, played on TV, on the big stage as well as in the streets and in social intervention projects. Kotéba is a frame in which the stage provides a space of visibility and voice not only to professional artists, companies or NGOs, but also to individuals (as the theatre initiative Essingan (2008) by returned migrants shows).

I argue that Kotéba is a space for individual and collective construction of citizenship, where society is shaped and critically reflected upon and where connections and disruptions with the past and present find powerful expression. This paper wishes to unpack Kotéba theatre as a connecting and at the same time disrupting element in rural-urban theatre performances in Mali.