Reconstructing the Ancient History of Drama through Afrocentric Lenses and AI Tools

Résumé

Afrocentrics have argued against the attribution of the origin of ancient drama history to the West. In the literary and drama sphere, the authorship of Aristotle’s The Poetics and Plato’s The Republic remains attacked by the Afrocentrics. They (Afrocentrics) posit that the origin of ancient drama history attributed to the West is a product of Western-European hegemony. Afrocentrics refute the Greek authorship of The Poetics and The Republic, and this has presented a conundrum in the search for the true origin of ancient drama history. This reality necessitates the need for drama critics to investigate history and ascertain the validity of Afrocentric positions. History is constituted by voluminous data, and it is often onerous and cumbersome to sift through history in a bid to resolve a contention. This paper argues that AI and several AI tools can help to make the analysis of history less cumbersome, offering an opportunity for drama critics to easily interrogate historical data as they search for the true origin of ancient drama history. Utilising documentary observation methodology, this paper highlights the benefits of employing AI tools in the research and discourse on the origin of ancient drama history. It was realised in this paper that in collaboration with the use of AI tools to interrogate ancient historical data, researcher’s extent of personal study helps to validate conclusions arrived at by AI tools. This paper recommends that AI should be consciously but carefully incorporated into drama research as the world progresses technologically.