ÉCRITURE DRAMATURGIQUE DU CONFLIT COLONIAL. LE CAS DE NGUM A JEMEA OU LA FOI INÉBRANLABLE DE RUDOLF DUALLA MANGA BELL DE DAVID MBANGA EYOMBWAN

This contribution is a reflection on the conflict between the German colonial administration and Dualla Manga Bell, the young traditional chief of Dualla in Cameroon. Its objective is to demonstrate how African drama uses theatrical strategies with a view to deconstructing the colonial administration by determined young people. Based on thematic criticism, the paper reaches the conclusion that Ngum a Jemea ou la foi inébranlable de Rudolf Dualla manga Bell is part of the anti-colonialist struggles and the defense of colonized peoples. The playwright mobilizes the forms of drama language in order to deconstruct the German colonial regime. Opposing the colonial power, the young Dualla Manga will be sentenced to death. His tragic end by hanging reflects the colonial crime committed in the name of the so-called civilizing mission of colonization. The reappropriation of orality and the linguistic anchoring by which the play is illustrated reflect both the aspiration to autonomy and the originality of African drama. Therefore, David Mbanga Eyombwan tends towards a fully-fledged drama, which brings Africa in all its historical and cultural plurality to postcolonial consciousness.To expose injustices or vices, one can either directly provoke horror and indignation by stating the facts, or use satire, which consists of making people laugh so that the reader will condemn the facts. Voltaire favours the second solution. Humour, irony, comedy are his main means. To fight against prejudice and fools, they must be ridiculed, i.e., belittled, downtoned, made to seem external and absurd. But, at the same time, the comic must not prevail, otherwise we would laugh without giving it any further thought. The banter should simply underline the taunt. Voltaire's tales count therefore as irony by their very nature: he teaches us not to be fooled, not even by the literary devices that underlie irony.