Presenter and Author:
Mjomba Leonard Majalia
Taita Taveta University
Description:
Ngoma, traditional dance performances in Kenya, refers to a diverse musical setting involving a combination of drumming, song, poetry, drama, dancing, and storytelling. A modification of Ngoma, NgomaDiCe uses one- to five-minute problem-posing Ngoma items e.g. song, parable, drama skit, rap music, khanga clothing, picture, video clip or other communication modes to represent and problematize an issues or topic. NgomaDiCe is based on Freire’s theory of dialogical communication. The Ngoma, which takes place in a classroom setting with participants sitting in a big circle, is built upon three traditional African communication channels:
- Ngoma: in this case opening with a problem or question and uses call and response, dance songs, talk-singing (rap), drama, poems, parables, and other manifestations,
- Wachemshangoma: who perform the Ngoma and motivate the dance/dialogue, and
- Mviringo: Dialogue circles.
Valorization of textualism has tended to delegitimize orality as a source of knowledge. My poster session aims to show how, since time immemorial, African traditional dance performances as texts have used Problem-Based learning to pass knowledge from one generation to the next. NgomaDiCe is an innovative project that is working to reinstate Ngoma in Kenyan classrooms. I will also show how NgomaDiCe can be used to teach Swahili (African Languages) in the U.S.