The Impact of Globalization on Izara Festival in Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Globalization poses a great challenge to the survival of traditional performances such as Izara of Amo people of Plateau State. The phenomenon of globalization is one that is dubious and has influential capacity to disrupt the intrinsic and extrinsic workings of such performances in terms of their performative idioms. It will boil down to intellectual naivety to subscribe to the persuasive somewhat advantages of globalization as it affects Africa in its basic structures or its superstructure which consists of socio-cultural aspects. Volatile as it may seem as the nature of traditions, Izara has been exposed to the negative currents of globalization, and this has led to the erosion of some vital aspects of its ritual vivacity and performance. This paper casts its probing eyes on the impact of globalization on Izara, assessing the negative effects and the dynamics of the operations of the festival in the face of the phenomenon. In order to achieve this objective, the paper compares Izara and the Igbo’s Ikeji masquerade drawing from the survival variables of the latter. The paper utilizes qualitative data obtained from performers of Izara and literature that has touched on this subject matter. This will be carried out from the premise and framework of Richard Schechner’s performance theory. Members of the literati, theatre artists, film makers, anthropologists among others can benefit from this study.