Theatre for Development is one of the most dynamic and controversial theatre movements on the
global South. Emerging in Southern Africa in the 1970s to address social and economic problems
using theatrical techniques today it is taught in theatre departments across sub-Saharan
Africa and employed in numerous contexts from health care to agriculture. This book
investigates the emergence of TfD from its beginnings to its transformation into a coherent
organizational field capable of attracting significant governmental and NGO funding. Drawing on
leading African scholars and practitioners the volume examines the complex transnational
processes that led to the institutionalization of Theatre for Development. Christopher Balme is
Professor of Theatre Studies and co-director of the Käte Hamburger research centre Global
dis:connect at LMU Munich. He directed the ERC project 'Developing Theatre: Building Expert
Networks for Theatre in Emerging Countries after 1945'. Abdul Karim Hakib is a lecturer at the
Department of Theatre Arts University of Ghana. He completed his PhD at LMU Munich. His
research interests include Theatre for Development intangible cultural heritage and
performance theatre and other media and organizational politics and development.
