ABSTRACT
A critical evaluation of postcolonial governance and an active or tacit support of programs initiated by the government characterize the continuum of Nigerian cultural activism: from the tradition of university-based antiestablishment theatrical production to the work of theatre for development (TfD) practitioners, associated with universities or independent nongovernmental organizations. The latter often, though not exclusively, promote grassroots developmental programs in close cooperation with state agendas and policies. Tess Onwueme’s prolifi c dramaturgy, specifi cally her attention to women’s cultural resistance to developmental programs formulated by leaders and bureaucrats in Nigeria, offers a critique of state power in the university-based anti-establishment theatrical tradition of Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofi san, and Bode Sowande. It also refl ects her current location as a Nigerian diasporic intellectual well aware of insidious forms of neocolonialism. Based in the American academy as Distinguished Professor of Cultural Diversity and Professor of English at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Onwueme is self-refl exive about Western-infl uenced feminist agendas that reinforce the postcolonial state’s neocolonial policies.
