POPULAR THEATRE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN NIGERIA: THE TIV-JUKU EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The desire to curb the intermittent ethnic conflicts found to be very rampant in a time when most societies have gotten to a very high height of civilization through the participatory drama is the primary concern of this project. To this extent it is one amongst the many measures taken sofar by stakeholders in the management of the Taraba, Nasarawa and Benue ethnic conflicts. Consequently, chapter one introduces the concept of ethnic-political crisis, it further advances reasons to authenticate this work and enumerate ways of achieving the set goals and the historical parameters of the target communities*. The next chapter which is chapter two, deals with reviews of literatures, it treats indepthly, the meaning and definition of ethnic political crisis, theories of conflicts and instability, a Historical analysis of Tiv and the Jukuns crisis and the functionality of popular drama as a viable approach to the project, thereby setting the basis for the workability of this tool. Chapter three does a totalitarian study on how the tool works and so it comprises of the presentation of field-data collected from the workshop conducted. It also discusses the methodology via which conflicts can be controlled. Chapter four tries to examine the experiences required as indicated in the methodology, this include; the organisation of the workshop, analysis of findings at the performances, and discussions of these findings. Chapter five, which is also the final chapter, deals with the culmination of all that has been argued in the previous chapters, it summarizes, concludes and suggests ways via v which popular drama can curb conflicts.