Expresssing culture through drama: a reading of Anowa and the marriage of Anansewa

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between literature and culture through seminal effort exhibited in two plays; Anowa and The Marriage of Anansewa by Ama Atta Aidoo and Efua Sutherland respectively. With various discourse in the plays, we strive to analyse the link between literature and culture. The paper begins with a discussion of some theories of culture and literature and, per what is presented in the two plays, proceeds to establish the relationship between culture and literature. We observe that these foremost female writers are using drama to construct icons and symbols for women in particular and as a way of raising the consciousness of society or mankind in general about certain practises that affect women in particular in one way or another. Most importantly however, among other things, we also discuss the use of literature as a means of teaching acceptable cultural practices and also as a means of criticising unfavourable aspects of a particular culture. In a nutshell, we contend that literature can be used as a tool to sensitize a group of people and to teach and sustain essential socio-cultural practises. Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol. 1 (2) 2009: pp. 175-186