Kahumuza, Wilfred Wilbard2020-05-282020-05-282004Kahumuza, W W (2004), The use of popular theatre for political conscientization of grassroots rural communities, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaamhttp://41.86.178.5:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/11701Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF PN2995.8.T34K3)This thesis is about the use of popular theatre for political conscientization of grassroots rural communities. The field part of the study was conducted in Mtwara rural district, from January to April 1999.The main areas which have been addressed are the evolutions of theatre and politics, as well as the role of theatre in different systems of political organization. The analysis of this evolution and relationship is presented in chapter one. Chapter two presents a review of the texts which were found valuable for the theory and practice of this study, while the third chapter is on the aspects of research methodology and procedures, which guided it.. The data interpretation in chapter four and the conclusions in chapter five highlight the major findings. The summary of the major findings of the study is that if adopted for education, popular theatre performances can be more beneficial media for civic education than the alternative of booklets and newsletters. This difference is expressed in the conclusion, whereby it is stated that out of the 50 people who were interviewed after the popular theatre performance in the experimental group, 25 said that they had attended and understood what was expressed. On the other hand, for the control village where the alternative of booklets and newsletters was tested, the results were rather disappointing. Only seven out of fifty respondents said that they had read parts of those texts, which each of them had been given. What is recommended for further research is found in chapter five. It is asserted that there ought to be a series of studies to test the effectiveness of individual genres and aspects of theatre. Such an approach may be utilized by communities which, due to certain limitations, are not able to afford the combinations which characterize the current form of popular theatre.enThe use of popular theatrepolitical conscientizationgrassroots rural communitiespoliticsMtwara rural districtThesis