Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora

Kwame Boafo, a Ghanaian movement artist and scholar, has been selected as the inaugural LOATAD Professor Ian H. Munro Fellow.

Kwame Boafo was born in Accra, Ghana, and holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the National University of Singapore. He is trained as a performance maker and researcher. Kwame’s performance and movement experience started with the breakdance. He became interested in exploring the limits of the body in 2015 and partnered with Bulgarian poet Yasen Vasilev to co-create his first solo performance, NUTRICULA, in Shanghai.

His curiosity about the body led him to research the materiality of the body and the body as an archive of memory. Through his research, Kwame has delved into the intersection of performance, religion, rituals, movement, and memory, seeking to understand how the body can serve as a vessel for knowledge production and memory-making. His recent work explores the idea of creating knowledge while in flux by using religious processions as a case study. He is interested in exploring knowledge beyond visual registers to include other sensuous modalities of knowledge production.

His recent performance as part of Kunstenfestivaldesart 2024 deals with the subject of end-of-life automobiles imported from Europe and North America to West Africa. He comments on the flow and politics of human and non-human agency in a global context, highlighting the interconnectedness of material culture and social systems.

Kwame says, “During this Fellowship, I want to explore how African dramatists have dealt with the subject of rituals and their performativity. I find it fascinating that the African life trajectory is saturated with rituals from birth to death. Rituals have served as portals through which Africans have produced, retained, evolved, and foregrounded their narratives, shaping identities and communities. By examining the works of African dramatists, I aim to uncover the multifaceted ways in which rituals serve as cultural markers and as mechanisms for preserving African aesthetics and resistance against external influences.

This textual exploration will shed light on the rich tapestry of African literature and contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities of African ritual practices. I plan to use Wole Soyinka’s Death and The King’s Horseman as an entry point to explore the intricate relationship between ritual and the collective African community. Soyinka’s play delves into the contentious nature of tradition, colonialism and modernity, highlighting how rituals can both reify and challenge existing structures.

By undertaking a close reading of the characters’ interactions with rituals, I hope to gain insights into the broader spiritual and social affect of rituals. Does the writer use ritual as an artistic makeup to enhance the plot or as an important avenue that extends the existence of the community? I intend to expand on rituals beyond the writings to understand what constitutes rituals and what kinds of social affect they produce for contemporary Africans. Examining this will provide a nuanced understanding of how rituals are used to demonstrate the potentiality of African imagined futures and their adaptability in the face of global atrocities.”

Named in honour of the American professor of African and Caribbean literature who, in 2022, became LOATAD’s biggest benefactor when he donated his collection of circa 2000 books and journals to the library, the Fellowship is an integral part of LOATAD’s work to support Ghanaian and African knowledge production. 

To find out more about the Professor Ian H. Munro Fellowship, click here.

Watch a recording of Ritual As Speculative Portal: An Online Offering delivered by the inaugural LOATAD Professor Ian H. Munro Fellow, Dr Kwame Boafo, on Saturday, 30 November 2024, at the Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD) in Accra, Ghana:

All images by Louka Van Roy – RHoK