Bukunmi Deborah AJITONI

Second cohort of the African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges / Deuxième cohorte du programme de Bourses africaines pour la recherche sur les savoirs autochtones et alternatifs (AFRIAK) .

Affliation: University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Discipline: Theatre Arts

Country / Pays: Nigeria

Project Title / Titre du projet: Storytelling as Indigenous Pedagory for Children: Performance and Knowledge Transmission in “Storytelling With The Legends”

Biographie / Biography: My teaching and research is based in the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, where I am a Lecturer at the nexus of the study of performance costume and makeup, African oral traditions, Arts Management and Theatre Administration, Musical Theatre, and the systems of indigenous knowledge. My practice as an academic anticipates storytelling, performance, and embodiment as other epistemological models upon which cultural knowledge is produced and transferred. I am also participating in community-based cultural activities and pedagogical strategies that will link the university to the bearers of indigenous knowledge, narrators of stories, and traditional organizations.
I have worked with community-based storytelling and cultural literacy projects that anticipate the oral traditions of the indigenous as a pedagogical method with children. It involves observational and performance oriented participation in the Storytelling with the Legends, a programme, which is organised by the Department of School Library and Media Technology, University of Ibadan, with the cooperation of the Reading Awareness Society to Develop Africa (RASDA).
This interaction has taught me the ability to observe and interpret indigenous storytelling performances that focus on dramaturgy, narrative, embodiment, and audience involvement. I am also exposed to child centred cultural education settings which have educated me about the concept of storytelling as a learning tool, as a way of teaching morals and passing on intergenerational knowledge to future generations.
I have also acquired theoretical and methodological principles in the performance studies, oral literature, and qualitative research methods applicable to indigenous and alternative systems of knowledge through my academic training in Theatre Arts.