Into Africa and Wole Soyinka: Crash Course Theater #49

It’s difficult to talk about African theater thanks to colonialism. Pre-colonial Africa was home to many spoken languages, and not nearly as many written languages. The chain of oral tradition was broken by colonial policies, and so many pre-colonial traditions are lost. Today, we’re going to talk about some of the dance and theater traditions of Africa, and look at post-colonial theater across the continent. Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at Thanks to the following patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever: Eric Prestemon, Sam Buck, Mark Brouwer, Bob Doye, Jennifer Killen, Naman Goel, Patrick Wiener II, Nathan Catchings, Efrain R. Pedroza, Brandon Westmoreland, dorsey, Indika Siriwardena, James Hughes, Kenneth F Penttinen, Trevin Beattie, Satya Ridhima Parvathaneni, Erika & Alexa Saur, Glenn Elliott, Justin Zingsheim, Jessica Wode, Kathri