Cultural troupes (CT) are community-based performing groups that deploy traditional resources and heritages in their performances to communicate community issues to the people. Communication is a fundamental aspect of cultural troupes’ performance (CTP) across various cultures and CTs in Benin City, Nigeria adopt similar communication approaches to educate their audiences and propagate the culture of the people. The study aims to stimulate broader academic interest in CTP towards addressing language and cultural degradation in the community. It uses the artistic communication (AC) framework to analyse the communication elements and conveyed messages in cultural troupes’ performances (CTP) in Benin City. A qualitative methodology is employed, incorporating data collection through focus groups (FGs), key informant interviews (URs), purposive sampling of respondents (Rs), and observation. Data analysis follows an interpretive thematic approach. Findings reveal that communication elements in CTP in Benin City align with established communication patterns in other cultural communities, and there is a constant transformation of traditional forms and intercultural penetration, alongside a low level of language and cultural knowledge among the young generations in Benin City. Additionally, the scarcity of research on communication within CTP in other communities limits the data available for this study.
communication, context, cultural troupes, performance
Daniel Eromosere Omoruan. Corresponding author. Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa. Email: 22176420@dut4life.ac.za
Sam Erevbenagie Usadolo. Department of Media, Language and Communication, Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa. Email: samu@dut.ac.za
"All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
This work was not supported by any funding but the APC was paid by the Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa.
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by Durban University of Technology. The conduct of this study has been approved by the Institutional Research and Examination Committee (IREC) with reference number IREC 175/23.
AI tools were not used in writing this paper.
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Cite this article:
Omoruan, D.E. & Usadolo, S.E. (2025). Communication elements in cultural troupes’ performance in Benin City, Nigeria. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 5(2), 156-177. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353201
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