Faculty of Arts, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
C. Chinyowa, K., Faculty of Arts, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
Although much has been written about African cultural performances either as anthropological material or as oral literature, not much has been done to interrogate the artistic form that frames these cultural texts. Admittedly, African oral literature has made significant strides towards the understanding of the cultural performance texts but the major shortcoming has been the tendency to view these performances from a utilitarian rather than an aesthetic point of view. For instance, most of the scholarship on African oral literature is more concerned about what Joel Yinka Adedeji termed the 'functional quality' of the cultural performances than the means by which they come to be realised. This paper argues that play is the means by which African cultural performances express themselves. The paper explores how play manifests itself in selected Shona cultural performances such as children's games, storytelling, ritual ceremony, song, and dance. The paper argues that play is the structuring or patterning element in African cultural performances. In other words, African cultural performances are carried out within an aesthetic frame that is circumscribed by play. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.