


































CHAPTER THREE.cdr


Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and 

Education among The Mupun People Of Plateau State

Dakwom Makpring Longgul 
Department of Theatre and Film Arts, 

Faculty of Arts,
 University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria 

Email: dlonggul@unijos.edu.ng 
ORCID: http://orchid.org/0009-0007-4100-0145 

Abstract 
Njingkook is a tradition of storytelling performance among the 
Mupun people of Plateau State, Central Nigeria. The tradition of 
storytelling is a universal phenomenon and like many African 
communities, the Mupun people had explored storytelling as a means 
of entertainment and education becoming a tradition and a cultural 
practice over time and space. The main idea here is that storytelling 
entertains and educates the communities long before contact with 
technology of the outside world. Adopting the Dramatic Dialogue 
(DD) theory with a qualitative methodology, the study examines the 
education components and its process using one of the popular 
folktales TalkuulDaboo, within the prism of some discursive frames 
i.e.  Process by which discovery, recognition and understanding 
occur to the co-players or participants of a theatrical performance 
like Njingkook. The study details paradox, make-believe, imitation, 
improvisation and domestication as discursive frames responsible as 
quality assurance tools for teaching and learning within the 
Njingkook theatre experience. The study concludes that Njingkook 
theatre therefore preserves the voice and codes of the Mupun moral 
system, epistemology, and communal philosophy. Again, history is 
preserved, collective struggle is encouraged while a people's belief is 
transmitted to the young generation.
Keywords: Njingkook storytelling, tradition, Mupun 
education

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Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



Pun Mu”.! the Mupun people echoed. This play indicated that 
they had discovered the Mwaghavul people's hiding place and 
intended to flush them out (Danfulani and Fwatshak 6).

 The term MU-PUN could also denote in Mupun 
grammatical construction mean “the thing of the father” or “that 
which belongs to the father.” Geographically, the Mupun people 
are found in the eastern edge of the Jos Plateau which is 
approximately located in the Centre of Nigeria. The Mupun, like 
many other ethnic groups on the eastern part of Jos Plateau, speak 
Chadic languages and are mutually intelligible. Chadic speaking 
neighbours of the Mupun include the Ngas, Mwagavul, 
ChakfemTambes, Gung, Miship, Ron, Kofyar, Doemak, 
Mernyang, Jipal and a host of others. These groups trace their 
ancestry to the Middle East, and then to some areas of Lake Chad 
Basin, down to the southern parts claimed by the ancient Kanem-
Borno Empire. The implication of the Chadic relationship of 
Mupun and the others in the group cannot be underestimated as it 
is fraternal hence, might share the same features. Politically, with 
the creation of Pankshin province in 1926, the Mupun area 
became known first as a Lankan village and about 1922 and later 
as a Lankan district in 1934 according to Danfulani and Fwatshak 
(7).

     Settlements were clan based. A household comprised a 
man, his wife/wives and children and their families. The 
household is called Ngu lu while the clan head is called Pup lu. 
The household is the smallest unit of Political, Social and Judicial 
organization. The larger unit is the village head. Most villages 
derived their names from geographical features around the 
community for instance the Asa community drives from Saak 
–Stone traces on farms,Asa is on a sloped terrain, which provides 
erosion control through terracing. Abwor village derives from 
Bwor, dust. Jing village from Jing- red loamy soil.Kagu from GU, 
cactus, which suggests the heavy use of cactus.  In terms of world 

Introduction 
 Storytelling is universal and is as ancient as humankind. 
Before writing, there was storytelling. It occurs in every culture 
and at every age. It exists to entertain, inform, and to promulgate 
cultural traditions and values. Oral storytelling is telling a story 
through voice and gestures. The oral tradition can take many 
forms, including epic poems, chants, rhymes, songs, and more. 
Not all these stories are historically accurate or even true. They 
encompass myths, legends, fables, religion, prayers, proverbs, 
and instructions. The essence is to make people productive 
members of the community. This paper is interested in the age 
long tradition of the Mupun people of Plateau State, central 
Nigeria. Njingkook is a traditional moonlight storytelling 
performance activity shared among the Mupunnatives based on a 
long age tradition and worldviews. It means folktale or 
storytelling, carried out after the day's activity is over. Njingkook 
performance is central to the life of every Mupun person as it 
marks the beginning of communal education, hence, the paper 
attempts to x-ray the process of teaching and learning in this 
traditional communal entertainment and education system. 

 A Brief Culture-History of the Mupun People   
  According to Miri about one thousand African people 
(Nigeria the most populous black country in Africa) with a 
population estimated at 120,000,000 can boast of 450 ethnic 
groups” among which are the Mupun a minority tribe found in 
Pankshin and Mangu LGA of Plateau State (368).  
Accordingly, oral tradition has it that, Mupun as a term is 
composed of two phrases: MU, meaning “we” and “PUN '' 'chase 
out of hiding. It is a term used by hunters when a game is chased 
out of its hiding place. A tradition of the Mupun occupying the 
Jiblik community has it that during their wars with the 
Mwaghavul people, a neighboring ethnic group the later 
discovered the hiding place of the former -laying ambush, “Mu 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



essential as a point of reference of an actor's actions in dramatic 
relationships. Dialogue enables inquiry into, and understanding 
of, the sorts of processes that fragment and interfere with real 
communication between individuals, nations and even different 
parts of the same organization. Dialogue is a communication tool 
that allows people to understand other viewpoints without pitting 
themselves against different perspectives. In dialogue, there is no 
defending of opinions, and no counterpoints. According to 
Wagner, “hearts and minds too often close when we do not 
understand words and concepts or, understand them from a limited 
perspective, thus the imperative for dialogue” (14).

Plato (437 - 347 BC), introduced the systematic use of 
dialogue as an independent literary form. In his earliest 
experiment with the genre in the Laches, he wrote on the Platonic 
dialogue and postulated that dialogue had its foundations in the 
mime, which the Sicilian poets Sophron and Epicharmus had 
cultivated half a century earlier. These works, admired and 
imitated by Plato, have not survived, but scholars imagine them as 
little plays, usually presented with only two performers. Today, 
this form of dialogue is used in classrooms, community centers, 
corporations, federal agencies, and other settings to enable people, 
usually in small groups, to share their perspectives and 
experiences about difficult issues. It is used to help people resolve 
long-standing conflicts and to build deeper understanding of 
contentious issues. Dialogue is not about judging, weighing, or 
making decisions, but about understanding and learning. 
Dialogue dispels stereotypes, builds trust, and enables people to 
be open to perspectives that are very different from their own. 
Dialogue is, however, a delicate process. Many obstacles inhibit 
dialogue and favour more confrontational communication forms 
such as discussions and debates. Common obstacles including 
fear, the display or exercise of power, mistrust, external 
influences, distractions, and poor communication conditions can 
all prevent dialogue from emerging.

view, the Mupun world view is divided into two:
a. Yill-grum- meaning human world inhabited by  

man, animals and plants.
 b. Yill-Nji- the world of the ancestors consisting  

Na'an (God)  
    The Kum institutions (embodiment of the deities), Riin- 

Spirits and Nji- (the living Dead). Danfulani postulates that 
“the supreme deities, ancestors and spirits exist to assist the 
Mupun man live a useful life on earth for the benefit of his 
clan, extended family, and for himself as an individual to aid 
him incarnate into the world of the living dead” (133) 

    The Kum institution in Mupun worldview is second only to 
Na'an who is the Supreme Being. The wills of the ancestors 
were sought for through Paa     meaning “divination” and 
yen meaning “medicines' ' The Kum had both personal and 
clan deities. Kum regulates and controls the socio-political, 
economic and cultural life of the Mupun. God is approached 
directly only in times of crises which is beyond human 
remedy and that of the deities and ancestors. At the 
beginning of the cultivation season called the biyang- mar or 
Kop the chiefpriest performs the ritual to announce the 
farming season. Crops in Mupun land include: Kas(millet) 
khisuk ( acha, or hungry rice), Pa'at ( olive) Shuwabulu  ( 
maize) Kwaklik ( local beans), Kom ( groundnuts) and  
Dangal ( sweet potatoes) however recently, other crops like 
rice, potatoes, and a variety of beans is grown.

Theoretical Implication/Insight
 Dramatic Dialogue (DD), is the speech of actors in drama 
as they interact, relate and engage one another in a story. It comes 
in the form of verbal words, signs, symbols and motifs which one 
actor passes to another and others in the course of the story. Apart 
from the dramatic action which can be independent of dialogue 
and still be able to convey the intended message, dialogue is 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



Performer:  One day in the morning, Daboo's mother sent 
him to pluck a garden egg in the farm and bring it to cook 
soup. He did as instruct by his mother but on his way back, 
he met an old man (Dikaam). The old man deceived him 
and collected the garden egg and ate it all, this prompted 
Daboo to start crying; eh eh eh eh  eh. 

Performer:  why are you crying? (Sang)

Daboo: (Sang)  am crying for my garden egg, 
        The garden egg I plucked from my garden.
         But the Dikam collected and ate all.

Performer: The old man had pity on Daboo and gave him 
a piece of broken pot and then they departed with the old 
man. Daboo walking a short distance, he used the broken 
pot to kill a bird. Shortly after killing the bird, he met an 
old woman immediately. The old woman (Ninkaam) saw 
Daboo with a dead bird in his hand and she played a trick 
on him and collected the bird, roasted it and ate it all. 
Daboo was troubled, no garden egg, no piece of broken 
pot and no bird. he then started crying and when the old 
woman realized that he was crying, she was cold and then 
asked him why he was crying. 

Daboo (answered sang) I am crying for my bird, my bird.
My bird that I killed with a piece of broken pot.
an old woman collected and ate.
 An old woman collected my broken piece of pot.
My broken piece of pot I collected from an old man.
 An old man collected my garden egg.
 My garden egg I plucked from my garden.
 The old man collected and ate.

The Brazilian educationalist, Paulo Freire (known for 
developing popular education), advanced dialogue as a type of 
pedagogy. He held that, “dialogue communication allowed 
students and teachers to learn from one another in an environment 
characterized by respect and equality. Dialogue, is the encounter 
between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world 
(8). A great advocate for oppressed peoples, Freire was concerned 
with praxis - action that is informed and linked to people's values. 
Dialogue pedagogy was not only about deepening understanding; 
it was also about making positive changes in the world: to make it 
better. Education through Dialogue requires and generates trust 
rather than broadcast views of the teacher, policies, values and 
positions.

 In application, as characters dialogue in the performance 
space is also extended to the audience who are co-participants in 
the process hence, learning takes place as both the characters in the 
play carry the audience to the world of the story. For learning to 
take place the participant undergoes certain dramatic frames 
through which effective learning in Njingkook theatre takes place, 
we will refer to the process as 'taxonomy of learning in action' 
borrowing from education and pedagogical studies.  Through 
dramatic dialogue indices such as:  paradox, make-believe, 
liminality, improvisation, and domestication, we consider the 
performance below and try to connect our the sense in our 
theoretical insight and discourse 

NJINGKOOK AS PERFORMED:
  Title: Tal Kuul Daboo (Daboo and The Garden Egg) 

Performer: My story, my story is about Daboo 
(Njingkook, Njingkook fen ya daboo)

Response: Say it, let it come and go ( saat mun duun fwa  
khi ni ji saet.)

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



the cow and cut it into pieces and gave it to their in-laws. 
Daboo was troubled and started crying and he shouted 
and started groaning; eh eh eh eh eh. And those 
performing the rites asked him why are you crying 
Daboo?

Daboo:  Am crying for my female cow.
 My female cow I collected from a shepherd. 
  And those performing marriage rites collected and ate.
 The shepherd collected my stick.
My stick that I collected from an old woman.
 The old woman collected my bird.
My bird that I killed.
 I killed with a piece of broken pot.
 But an old woman collected and ate.
 Piece of broken pot I collected from an old man.
 The old man collected my garden egg     
 My garden egg   I plucked from my garden.
 But an old man collected and ate.

Performer: The people performing the marriage rites 
were disturbed and so they gave Daboo a flute. They 
taught him how to blow the flute and how to sing 
different kinds of songs using the flute. Some of these 
people performing the marriage rites packed their 
belongings and followed Daboo while he played the 
flute at the reception ground to his house Daboo's house 
was far from where the wedding rites took place and it 
would possibly take him two rivers for him to pass 
before getting to his house. At the first river, there was a 
boy fetching water with no one to help him carry the pot 
of water on his head and so he shouted aloud and asks  
  Who is blowing the flute? 
 Come and help me carry my water.

Performer: When the old woman saw that it was beyond 
her power, she then gave her walking stick in place of the 
bird to Daboo. So Daboo collected the walking stick and 
went ahead and on his way going, he met herdsmen 
taking care of their flock and they were without sticks. 
The herdsmen deceived him and collected the stick from 
him. Immediately, a thought came to him about the things 
he collected free of charge. No garden egg, no piece of 
broken pot, no bird and so all these things collected from 
him made him cry seriously. 

Daboo:  (cried bitterly); eh eh eh eh eh. 
Performer:  The shepherd now gave him a female cow 
in place of the stick and this was what he told them while 
crying:

Daboo:   Am crying for stick, my stick.
            My stick I collected from an old woman. 
            The old woman collected my bird.
            My bird I killed.
            I killed with a piece of broken pot.
            But an old woman collected and ate.
            A piece of broken pot I collected from an old man.
           Old man collected my garden egg.
           My garden egg I plucked from my garden. 
           And an old man collected and ate.

Performer:  After Daboo left the shepherds, he went 
ahead and met a group of people gathering and 
performing marriage rites. The people were thinking of 
where they could get an animal to kill for the occasion 
but to no avail. As a result, they requested Daboo to give 
them his female cow for them to use for the marriage 
rites. Daboo gave it to them quietly and they slaughtered 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



they could not cross. As Daboo arrived he met them 
pondering on what to do and the place was getting 
darker, and his friends tried all they could with the egg 
of bang let but it did not help them and so Daboo told 
them that he had dove egg which he collected from the 
boy fetching water. He immediately carried the dove 
egg in his pocket and threw it inside the river and the 
river that was overflowing stopped immediately and 
then Daboo took the lead. He continued blowing his 
flute and his friends put it in the middle as if he were a 
king and as they approached Daboo's house, his 
relatives heard the flute and the songs and came out 
running to see the surprising thing approaching their 
house. The relatives of Daboo came out of the house 
and saw somebody being surrounded in the middle and 
the person continued blowing the flute as he came 
closer and as he arrived in the front of the house then 
stopped blowing the flute. 

     His relations lifted their eyes and realized it was 
Daboo who left home for days and this brought them 
joy and they all joined Daboo and his entourage in 
dancing. Immediately, Daboo's relations looked for 
an animal and slaughtered and cooked it and they also 
cooked plenty food for people to eat for the safe return 
of Daboo and people came from different places to 
welcome Daboo whom they thought was dead, the 
whole community continue to dance.

            Come and help me carry water.
And those with Daboo answered saying.
           Did you kill a female cow?
           Come and carry water for what?
They were in the front while Daboo followed them 
behind and as Daboo continued blowing his flute, all 
those who were in front went down to the river and 
then the boy who was fetching water gave them, he 
told them that they would find the river full of water 
and therefore they will help them to cross the river. 
Therefore, they collected   and walked straight to their 
houses. Daboo continued blowing his flute and the boy 
fetching water from the river continued calling.
Boy:   Who are those blowing the flute?
            Come and help me carry water!
            Come and help me carry water.

Daboo answered saying:
            Who is that who always stays in the river?
            Who is that shouting?

Water for what?
            Do men stay in the river?
            In time past, do men stay in the river with flute?
            Be fast my boy.
            Be fast my boy.

The boy fetching water came closer to Daboo and then 
Daboo helped the boy to carry the pot of water on his 
head. The boy appreciated Daboo for helping him and 
then gave him dove eggs which would help him cross 
the river if the water overflowed. Those who were on 
the journey with Daboo reached the river side and 
found out that the river overflowed to the brim, and 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



play is that it plays something” (96). Even with playing a game or a 
sport, each requires not only a space specially marked off for play, 
but also confronts the players with certain tasks and risks. The 
freedom to play cannot be enjoyed without transforming the 
players' attitudes, purposes and behaviors to suit the tasks and 
risks involved in the game or sport. The ordering and shaping of 
play become a way of making 'something' come into being, this is 
what the French Social Theorist Michel Foucault called a 
“discursive formation” (38). The Njingkook theatre therefore can 
be analyzed through these discursive frames as ways of creating 
kinds of knowledge concerning the reality of the community as a 
codified system of entertainment and education.   
Discursive frame in this sense is when such performance is 
inhibited, manipulated or falsified, its purpose as a public forum 
for addressing and redressing people's problems, concerns and 
desires, being an experience that transforms the person 
experiencing the performance; “it turns out to be the thing, or 
better still, a structuring element in the process of communicating 
development” (Chinyowa 21).  As Bretherton explains, the 
performance fulfills the need to gain say or unsay the world, to 
imagine and speak it otherwise, to build the milieu of social 
existence. What are these discursive frames of Njingkook theatre? 
And how do these frames affect learning and development? 
Constituting blocks of assessing quality assurance of Njingkook as 
a tradition that entertains and educates. Summarily the scheme 
looks like this:                                                                                                                        
Paradox
 Adam and Blatner point out that the aesthetic lies in being 
able to manipulate seemingly irreconcilable opposites, thereby 
creating a paradox, “a condition in which something is both real 
and not real at the same time” (11). By creating two contradictions 
the quest to unravel the web is heightened and passion helps in 
learning.   Citing   O'Connor in Chenoa, he asserts that the gap 
between the performer self and the real self, between the fictional 

Plate I shows the settings of Njingkook theatre in 
performance.
Plate 1 shows a traditional setting of the performance, which is 
today referred to as classroom. A space for communal learning. In 
this space learning takes place without blackboard, marker or 
chalk but through dialogue. The dialogue is between characters in 
the story and between the storyteller and the audience. The 
language of the performance is Mupun. With the picture above in 
mind, how can we account for the process of learning within the 
theatre of Njingkook? With our theoretical underpinning as 
discussed above, we shall try to examine the discursive frames as 
mentioned above. 

Discursive Frames of Njingkook
 By 'discursive frame' we mean the process by which 
discovery, recognition and understanding occur to the co-players 
or participants of a theatrical performance (Chinyowa 19).  
Gadamer noted, “It seems to me that the characteristic of human 

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Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



collect from the character Daboo till the end where the main 
character was welcomed with a dance to mark his kingship and 
generosity that the spectator begins to realize the paradox of the 
web. The story can be regarded as a 'truthful lie' because it is both 
real and imaginative. The duality is indeed a paradox that 
enhances a participant's drive to unravel the mystery of the web 
thereby encouraging active and participatory learning.  

Make-Believe
 Closely related to paradox in the cognitive domain is 
make-believe.  We earlier identified that knowledge and 
comprehension shall constitute the building within the frame of 
paradox because one is placed within the space 'known and the 
unknown' however in 'make-believe' is when the situation 
presented carries the 'subjunctive 'as if' or 'what if' it therefore 
reaches a stage of trying an  'application'  the spectator will like to 
apply experiences in the world of the story to his/her existing  
situation hence the spectator begins to create the make-believe 
signs by attempting to apply the contradictions in the first stage. 
Human beings constantly manufacture mental variants on the 
situations they face in life. Either consciously or unconsciously, 
they manufacture their subjunctive 'as if' or 'what if' worlds to 
represent potential sources of insight into how they can organize 
and categorize their perceptions of the world.

 Steinsholt and Trandahl find a close link between paradox 
and make-believe. Both involve slipping outside of ordinary 
reality and being in the power of play (201). The players turn their 
attention onto something other than themselves. They distance 
themselves in order to find themselves again. In other words, 
make-believe, like paradox, also requires that   participants allow 
themselves to be played by the play. If their suspension of disbelief 
is total, they may ultimately attain the state of 'make-belief'. From 
a discursive point of view, therefore, it is the 'make-belief' 

and the real contexts, “resides the endless opportunities for 
reflection about who and what we are as human beings” (43). The 
fictional context allows reality to be suspended, yet stays very, 
very close as the power of the performance resonates between the 
two contexts. Thus, the performance has a discursive significance 
that resonates beyond the frames in which it operates. The 
simultaneous existence of two disparate modes of existence 
enables learning to take place as play transforms lived experience 
during the paradoxical framing process.  In the performance 
as discussed above, through the instruments of dramatic dialogue 
first, between  the performer and the audience, and between 
characters in a fictional world.  The audience are in the real or 
physical space, the performer calls the shot of a 'fictional reality' 
when he says: 

Performer: my story, my story is about Daboo 
(Njingkook, Njinkook fen ya daboo)
Response: say it, let it come and go ( saat mun duun fwa  
khi ni ji saet.)

The call and response open up the line for the discourse about 
dramatic dialogue, however, the paradox in the same lines 
suggests that the spectators know that is a lie –”(saat mun duun 
fwa  khi ni ji saet”  translated as (say it so your lies can come and 
go..). fundamentally, the performer takes the audience to the world 
of the story, that is a “fictional reality”. The aesthetics of 
appreciation at this level is simply and squarely a revelation of the 
unknown, the passion to want to explore the two worlds. At this 
stage of paradox, the audience is carried from the simple stage 
which constitutes knowledge and comprehension of the fictional 
reality placed before him/her. The prerequisite for understanding 
seems to lie in giving the self over to the 'happening' but without 
losing it completely. In performing the story as performed above, 
one is caught up in the world of Daboo, the main character. The 
spectator wonders why the community in the story continues to 

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Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



to think, act and feel as if they are something else. Winnicott 
describes it as “the intermediate area of experiencing” where inner 
reality and external reality merge (103).Liminality is the 
transportation into the world of the characters, it can also be 
considered as occupying the transformational phase in the 
Njingkook theatre experience in fact at this stage there is a relative 
permanent change that begins to take the conduct of the 
participants. The characters in the world of the stories speak to the 
consciousness of the participant who is caught in the world of the 
make-believe driven by the paradox, the participant in the line of 
this theatre experience begins to imitate.  

Imitation
 Having been transported to the world of the characters in 
the story, the active participant begins to recreate events by 
imitation, in fact, in many African cultures, for instance, children 
do not simply imitate roles of 'mother' and 'father', but they 
emulate what they have recognized with a view to recreate 
because of previous experiences. Within the Mupun communities, 
children imitate characters, especially the good one by way of 
reenactment of the stories, sometimes they share experiences of 
the characters to avert such a repetition.  Aristotle called it 
"Mimesis", which is not just an act of copying or reproducing, but 
a potent source of transformation which is the goal of education. 
Hence imitation, in Aristotelian terms, is capable of reproducing, 
in the sense of bringing forth something that is more than the 
original. Through emulation as one of the transforming elements 
in imitation, new patterns and structures are created from previous 
experiences. 

 The playing child pretends or acts out something that has 
become familiar. By creating new patterns based on emulation, 
children will transfer the same patterns to other contexts. In the 
process, they are socialized into the adult world in a more 

dimension of 'make-believe' that sets the latter apart from other 
forms of fictional representation. Boal calls it “image of reality” 
and “reality of the image” The fantastic world of make-believe 
therefore occupies an indeterminate world that is neither entirely 
'real', nor entirely 'unreal'. Thus, fantasy or make-believe plays 
with the ambiguities of ordinary reality to reveal that which cannot 
be but is. It reveals what a people can be by extending the limits of 
their epistemological and ontological frames of reference.

 As a discursive frame, therefore, make-believe enables the 
participants to transcend the ordinary world as they enter the 
world of 'make-belief'. With reference to the Daboo's story above, 
the participants at a time takes in to the image of the world of the 
story which is paradoxical because of the contradictions which the 
spectator tries uncover, reflecting the imaginary world of the story, 
the participant when fix into the world of the characters in the story  
creates  a make-believe reality around the performance that will 
take  both character and the spectator into a mutual understanding 
of the codes, as the spectator becomes comfortable and 
appreciates the contradicting codes in the stages preceding make-
believe  and takes the spectator to the liminal stage 

Liminality
 The idea of being derived from limen meaning threshold 
or margin, a term coined by the Belgian anthropologist van 
Gennep (1960). Liminality refers to the intervening phase of 
transition in tribal rites of passage. The limen phase involves 
moving from a previous socio-cultural state to a new condition 
which has few of the attributes of the preceding state of being. 
Liminality has close links with flow as discursive frames of play. 
Both are ways of experiencing play, with flow being the means by 
which liminality and, by extension, transformation come to be 
realized. Storytelling enables participants to go through the 
transitional phase of making meaning through play, and ultimately 

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Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



the existing body of knowledge. The improvisation stage comes at 
the end of the performance when the spectator understands and 
begins to share the same values in different narrative patterns. 
Domestication
 What is learning if the character and personality of the 
student will not be affected? At what point do we measure how 
much is learned? Ultimately, the aim of every story is to pass a 
message to the audience who collectively are expected to witness 
a relative permanent change in self and community. Hence the 
point of doing the lessons in the performance becomes 
domestication. Domestication therefore sees man as a story-
telling animal. That means I can only answer the question 'what 
am I to do' if I can answer the question of what story or stories, I 
find myself a part of.  Njingkooktheatre creates a construct 
communal alternative to existential reality and educate the 
community by preserving existing cultural values and tradition 
that will enhance a peaceful and a progressive community.  
Education here is local, because the mandate is to develop the 
human resource that will further enhance the development of the 
community and the sustenance of its value system, hence, while 
the performance tapped from the peoples cultural resources, the 
stage we refer to as the domestication is when the spectators now 
becomes what the society expected them to be, good farmers, 
warriors, husbands, wives, religious (doing good) and also 
producing children in that pattern. At the level of domestication, 
participants have already developed skills for adaptation and 
eventual change.  They will accept their situation without much 
critical reflection. They may gradually become integrated into the 
dominant system under the rhetoric of local participation which 
takes this process: 

meaningful way. Thus, children develop their perceptions, values 
and identities through emulating others or things in their world. 
Imitation also leads to new knowledge through the function of 
recognition. For instance, putting on a costume is a form of 
disguise which requires the recognition not of the costume itself, 
but of something else beyond the costume. The costume may 
make the pleasant appear unpleasant, or the ugly appear beautiful, 
but the idea lies in knowing what it is that should be recognized in 
the imitation. Imitation is not merely a second version, but a 
recognition in the sense that something else has been revealed. At 
the level of imitation, participants begin to witness a strong desire 
to re-create and take a change in character.

Improvisation
 As participants imitate, they advance to additional 
creativity by improvising. This marks the stage of additional 
creativity and value addition on the part of the participant who 
does not only try to imitate but adds to the existing body of 
knowledge.  By observation, participants of the Njingkook try to 
recreate or narrate stories with a creative approach thereby adding 
value to the existing body of knowledge. This is a psychomotor 
phase where knowledge acquired is applied.   The nature of 
improvisation as a discursive play frame may be observed in its 
role as a form of reflection-in-action, taking spontaneous actions 
that incorporate new items that allows for dynamic patterns in 
telling stories “A formal dialogue of past and present” 
(Hutcheon25). Never settles but always renews itself, this self-
renewing quality appears to be a consequence of the spontaneity 
that enables the play to sustain itself.  Through improvisation 
different versions of stories emerge as a result of selection and di-
selection. The degree of creativity is measured in the ability of the 
performer to capture the codes of the moment. The researcher 
observed that when two performers perform the same story, their 
rendition is never the same at this point, the spectator adds value to 

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COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2023
Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



community. However, contemporary education system have 
failed to recognized the place of folk education especially with the 
theatre and traditional performance and play system, with the fast 
adopted western approach, educational policies in Nigeria seems 
to negate this age long tradition hence, many graduates can boast 
to understand the entire western world but many will fail in the 
understanding of their immediate African community or Value 
system. 

Works Cited
Blatner, A. & Blatner, A. The Art of Play: Helping Adults Reclaim 

Imagination and Spontaneity. Brunner Mazel Publishers. 
1997.

Boal, Augusto. Theatre for the Oppressed, Translated by Charles 
A. & Maria-Odilia Context. Leisure Press. 1981.

Chinyowa, K. C. The Undying Presence: Orality in Contemporary 
Shona Religious Ritual. In R. H. Kaschula (ed.). African 
Oral Literature: Functions in Contemporary Contexts. 
New Africa Books. 2001.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. Some Paradoxes in the Definition of Play. In 
A.T. Cheska (ed.). Play as Context. Leisure Press. 1981.

Danfulani.U.H.D &Fwatshak Sati. Celebrating Njinkook: Studies 
in the History and Culture of the Mupun of the Jos Plateau 
in Nigeria. Lynx Communications, 2012.

Drewal, M. T. Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play and Agency. 
Indiana University Press. 1992.

Foucault, Michael. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Tavistock 
1972.

Freire, Paulo. Cultural Action for Freedom. Harvard University 
Press. 1970.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy in Process. Seabury Press Inc., 1978.
Gadamer, H. G..Truth and Method. The Seabury Press. 1975.

The above model suggests the process that one undergoes as part 
of the learning process in Njingkook theatre. It also summarizes 
the taxonomy of active participation within the framework of 
learning in the Mupun Njingkook theatre. 

 To this end, appreciating the process of learning in the 
MupunNjingkook tradition experience is anchored on an all-round 
development, which includes the ability to engage in productive 
enterprise like community farming ( Wuuk),  community hunting 
(gwat) and internalization of roles through constant imitation and  
mentoring. The Njingkook theatre therefore preserves the morals, 
philosophy, epistemology and aesthetics of the community, 
usually coded and transmitted orally from generation to 
generation. Through the theatre, history is also preserved, 
collective struggle is encouraged, and a people's belief is preached 
and passed to the young. This is what the researcher would like to 
refer to as folk theatre –in –Education. Modern education 
policies in Nigeria have failed to recognize the traditional 
knowledge system and a whole civilization is at the threshold of 
going extinct in this regard. A reassessment of traditional 
performance forms should be documented as a part of the 
education curriculum of local communities especially at the early 
primary school level. 

Conclusion
 The paper chronicled the discursive frames within a folk 
theatre in education, Using the Mupun Njingkook theatre 
experience.  The paper Identifies paradox, make-believe, liminal, 
imitation, improvisation and domestication as the discursive 
frames for teaching and learning within the space of entertainment 
and education which occurs in the Njingkook theatre experience.  
The performer who tells stories orally, stands as the community 
teacher and scholar, he/ she takes the medium of his art to transmit 
and sustain the value system, philosophy and educating the 

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Dakwom Makpring Longgul :Njingkook: A Corollary of Tradition, Entertainment and Education
 among TheMupun People Of Plateau State



Hutcheon, L.A Poetics of Postmodern History, Theory and 
Fiction.Routledge.

Leal, McBride. Theatre Communications Group, 1985. 
Mbiti, John. African Religion and Philosophy.Heinemann:1969. 

Miri, Angela.“ Mernyang Women Satirists in Se-chan 
Per formance”  in  Afr ican  Women Drama and 
Performance(Ed)  Salami Agunloye Irene Ibadan 
Evergreen Books,2011. 

Steinsholt, K. & Traasdahl, E.The Concept of Play in Hans-Georg 
Gadamer's Hermeneutics: An Educational Approach. In S. 
Riefel (ed.). Theory in Context and Out: Play and Culture 
Studies, Ablex Publishing. 2001.

Van, Gennep.The Rites of Passage. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 
1960.

Wagner, David. Definitions for Multicultural Dialogue. New 
Dynamics York: PAJ Publications, 1982.

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