Ukaegbu, V. (2010) Performative encounters: performance intervention in marketing health products in Nigeria. Journal of Applied Arts and Health. 1(1), pp. 35-51. 2040-2457.
- Information
Information
Abstract:
The integration of performance in the sale of medicaments dates back to ancient shamanic practices. The shift from total reliance on healers from the 1960s to new products and models of healthcare delivery saw itinerant salesmen in Nigeria turn the sales of healthcare products into sophisticated participatory performative acts. Historically shamans
contextualised healing as performed enactments in which trance, possession, and choreographed actions were important in convincing clients of their pedigree. The performance quotients deployed by shamans were significant in how results were viewed: a strategy that Nigeria’s
post-civil war (1967–1970) itinerant medicine salesmen later honed into theatricalised displays. From the early 1970s to 1990s modern itinerant medicine salesmen invaded public transports using a combination of spontaneous dramatisation, role-play, costuming, devised narratives and audience participation to ensure sales. The Nigerian government banned this activity from public transports in the late 1990s, but it persists in other settings. This paper explores the marketing of healthcare as a form of ‘direct theatre’ (Schechner 1992) and how the deployment of performance to functional intentions results in a unique form of theatricality in which medical products are significant ‘actants’ (Hilton 1987)
Additional Information:
Journal cover date: September 2009. First published 2010
Uncontrolled Keywords:
performance; performative; interaction; medicine sales; advertising; shamanism; sales-performers
Subjects:
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2041 Performance studies
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2219.3 Special regions or countries
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2049 Theater and society. Applied drama
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2219.3 Special regions or countries
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2049 Theater and society. Applied drama
Creators:
Ukaegbu, V.
Publisher:
Intellect
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:
Date:
2010
Date Type:
Publication
Page Range:
pp. 35-51
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Applied Arts and Health
Volume:
1
Number:
1
Language:
English
ISSN:
2040-2457
Status:
Published / Disseminated
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