Book Review: Celestial Church of Christ: The Politics of Cultural Identity in a West African Prophetic-Charismatic Movement

This article examines what is at stake when performers and playwright critically transfigure oral histories when staging them theatrically. Representations of race and colonial history are integral to a nation's conception of its own cultural identity. These issues are at the forefront of many theatre productions in Cape Verde, an intensely creolized West African nation whose islands bear traces of the Europeans and Africans who have commingled there for centuries. The article examines two performances rooted in Cape Verdean history that challenge existing theoretical paradigms for the mimetic relationship between actors and the historical personae they portray onstage. Proposing the concept of the ‘historical imagination’, it explores how theatre artists self-consciously alter the local history they circulate to an international theatre festival stage and, concomitantly, how the theatre festival context and media coverage profoundly impact how national history is told within a global performance arena.

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Book Review: V. Practical and Social: The Church of Christ

Review & Expositor ◽

10.1177/003463730900600265 ◽

1909 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 340-340

Author(s):

C. S. Gardner

Keyword(s):

Church Of Christ ◽

The Church

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A BOOK REVIEW: FEMINISM ANDNERSUS FEMINITY OF MODERN WOMEN

Celt A Journal of Culture English Language Teaching & Literature ◽

10.24167/celt.v7i2.163 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 189

Author(s):

B. Retang Wohangara

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Young Women ◽

Pop Culture ◽

Politics Of Representation ◽

Girl Power ◽

Young Girls ◽

And Control

One important theme attached to pop culture is the politics of representation and sub-cultural identity. The pop singer Madonna and then the Spice Girls are frequently regarded as the representation of modern women offering a different face of feminism ideology. Successfully entering the market competition, Madonna, through her cry of 'material girl', characterizes herself as an independent woman in the still dominating patriarchal world while challenging the burden of morality placed on the shoulders of women. She asks young women to rebel against male-centred traditions and unashamedly exposes her sensuality as a source of power and even domination, or in short celebrating 'being women'. The flag of Girl Power is also waved by the 1990'sBritish female singers, the Spice Girls, who call young girls to "be strong, be brave, be loud and control your own destiny. Believe that your self can do anything you want to do and be confident. We have to be independent, but it does not mean that you don't need a boy" (Swastika 2004: 66).

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