Communicating healthcare through forum theater: egalitarian information exchange in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Development support communication currently employs mass media to transfer information to project beneficiairies The techniques employed are usually based on Western marketing theory, and the media used are often inappropriate. Traditional cultural forms of communication might be better employed to include people in decision making, by eliciting feedback, and engaging in dialogue. One such cultural form is performance. usually employed in schooling the young in the ways of the people. In Burkina Faso, a type of performance known as forum theater is used successfully for communicating new ideas to rural people who are accustomed to this more personal interaction as a way to solve community problems. Examining some of the theories of culture and performance, this article offers some insight into a form of communication which up till recently has not been considered by many development programs.