Performance as already established in Africa, is the primary site for the production of knowledge, where philosophy is enacted and multiple discourses of various artistic elements are simultaneously employed. These artistic elements include music, dance, drama, literature and visual arts within which women have continued to play prominent roles. This panel presentation interrogates pre-colonial experiences, identities and representations of African women, in contextual situations of performance with particular reference to African arts that highlight same (music, dance, drama, literature and visual arts). Besides available literature and archival / museum investigation, the applied methodology includes observation of vestiges of precolonial cultures re-enacted in contemporary contexts in different locations in Benin Kingdom in Nigeria and other parts of Africa including Republic of Benin and Guinea Conakry. The findings show that whereas colonization had dealt a blow on pre- colonial feminine performance traditions, the contexts studied were seen to have retained vital aspects of their existence in songs, panegyric, traditional dances, folk drama, body and mural arts. The panel concludes that despite colonization, African societies are still very rich in original cultural heritage as presented from different angles of various performance practices of Africa where women have made and left significant impressions and legacies.
Key words: Pre-colonial Experiences, Colonization, African Performance Practices, Panegyric, Cultural Heritage, Benin Kingdom.