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Participants in his workshop
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Through the use of gestures, movement and song, Fulbright scholar
Gilbert Doho employs what he calls "expressionary theater"
as a catalyst for social change and a way to facilitate universal
communication. A Scholar-in-Residence at the University at Albany,
State University of New York for the 2000-2001 academic year,
Doho came from Cameroon with his wife, eldest daughter and the
desire to "exploit the rich resources of U.S. universities."
It is his hope that his research can be used to examine the importance
of theater as a medium to foster democracy in Cameroon.
Doho's career path was heavily influenced by experiences of his
youth. As a child in Bafunda, a small village in the West province
of Cameroon, he witnessed first hand Cameroon's fight for independence.
The continuous bombing, burning of houses, and relentless persecution
of people for hosting "maquisards" or freedom fighters,
characterized his youth. His primary education was a mix of informal
schooling and experience in the fighting fields. "In days
of relative calm, village children enacted the fight for independence
through songs and role playing," he recalled.
For the last five years he has been promoting the idea of theater
for development, involving outreach to remote villages and urban
slums, interacting with the poor and helping them to resolve some
of their numerous problems including, illiteracy, human rights
violations, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, governance concerns,
and environmental protection through the medium of theater.
While in the U.S. he took courses at the University at Albany
taught by Eloise Briere of the Department of Comparative Literature.
He was a featured guest at the Great Lakes Media Conference and
the American Indian Educators Conference in Marquette, Michigan,
as well as a guest lecturer at Indiana University.
Doho also visited Northern Michigan University where he helped
students interested in applying performance techniques to health
care issues develop a contemporary AIDS play, Phambili, targeting
the needs of American university students. Native Americans in
attendance found the play so thrilling and the method so exciting
that they invited him for their summer gathering at Northern Michigan
University (July 18-28, 2001) where he created a performance on
violence, alcoholism and teenage pregnancy among the Ojubwe.
In addition, he was very active in the Theater and African Studies
Departments of the University at Albany. He created Cry out Africa,
a play on HIV/AIDS to benefit SAFA (Save Africa From AIDS).
Upon his return to Cameroon, Doho hopes to use his research and
experiences in America to facilitate the participation of the
disadvantaged rural people and promote communication and leadership
development in the villages. His research and theater practice
both in Cameroon and in the U.S. led him to the write a book entitled
People Theater and Mass Empowerment in Africa. Indiana University
Press is currently considering it for publication.
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