An Autoethnographic Performance: The Researcher’s Story of Hysterectomy and Menopause as Act of Resistance and Activism

One year after beginning a large-scale research inquiry into how young people construct their identities I became ill and subsequently underwent abdominal surgery which triggered an early menopause. The process which was experienced as creatively bruising called to be written as “Artful Autoethnography” using visual images and poetry to tell a “vulnerable, evocative and therapeutic” story of illness, menopause, and their subject positions in intersecting relations of power. The process which was experienced as disempowering called to be performed as an act of resistance and activism. This performance ethnography is in line with the call for qualitative inquirers to move beyond strict methodological boundaries. In particular, the voice of activism in this performance is in the space between data (human voice and visual art pieces) and theory. To this end, and in resisting stratifying institutional/medical discourse, the performance attempts to create a space for a merger of ethnography and activism in public/private life.

DANCESCAPE IN SAYAW BARONG PERFORMANCE OF BAJAU SAMA

Sayaw barong is one of the traditional performances for the Bajau Sama ethnic in Kota Belud, Sabah. With parang barong itself as a primarily customised weapon, this symbolic performance represents the war dance in Bajau martial arts locally and used as an offensive and defensive technique (buah/jurus silat) that merges in different streams (aliran) of silat such as silat kuntau, silat sping/sprint, silat betawi, and silat Nusantara. Through participants’ observation and performance ethnography, this particular style and technique encompasses the identity of Bajau Sama martial art through artistic movement as a representation that is also performed during other traditions such as wedding ceremonies, traditional healing, or funeral as their own cultural value. By referring to The Fan Theory suggested by Schechner, it shows how this tradition links and connects to other elements in sacred space such as ritualization, shamanism, rites and ceremonies. This paper also discusses the use of parang barong as a material culture and how its appearance helps the efficacy of the performance. The concept of sacred-scapes, death-scapes and kinetic-scapes take shape as tangible and intangible in order to understand this particular custom and how it fits in the Bajau identity as their own art of defence traditions. It also shows the Bajau Sama belief system that creates space in ritual including initiations, customs and celebrations.

Performing Theatre and Democracy

This collection of performances that is linked to this chapter was created as part of the MA exchange project between NTNU and DFL (Drama for Life). Students used performance ethnography as a method for generating performance material in answer to the challenge of building democracy through theatre. South Africa has a rich theatre history that has always engaged with the South African political narrative. Through developing an understanding of the many theatre-making processes that created this unique history, as well as through exploring other contemporary South African performances, students created and tracked their own research methodology so that they were able to hold up a mirror to the world around them. While each performance captured the individual perspective of the performer, they also engaged directly and indirectly with broader South African realities. The course consisted of four components, each shaped by the individual’s journey into their own research methodology. These were: generating material, interpreting the material, rehearsing the material and performing the material. This submission consists of a framing statement written by the lecturer as well as a collection of ten performances that include a short framing statement from each performer. Permission was obtained from all the students to showcase their work apart from one student who has submitted it under a pseudonym. Out of this exploration and through a practical laboratory, students created an embodied experience that addressed the notion of democracy. The value of the work was to gain a fresh embodied perspective of democracy in South Africa. It spoke to our unique South African theatre-making legacy, but also challenged and disrupted our understanding of what democracy is and how it might be performed.

Musikethnographien im 21. Jahrhundert

The volume Musikethnographien im 21. Jahrhundert brings together ten contributions by ethnomusicologists from the German-speaking world, who discuss current paradigms of fieldwork such as multi-situated fieldwork, reflexivity, dialogicity, feedback, auto-ethnography, activism and intervention through performance ethnography and collaborative research, as well as questions of repatriation, ethical handling of research data and the role of digital social media. In addition to theories and methodological reflections, the volume also includes reflections on the temporality of ethnographic material as well as ethnographical fieldwork on memory and the past. These reflections are applied to the subject of music and sound. With contributions by Barbara Alge, Stefanie Alisch, Linda Cimardi, Cornelia Gruber, Matthias Lewy, Julio Mendívil, Stefanie Kiwi Menrath, Monika Schoop, Helena Simonett and Britta Sweers.

Taking a Moment for Life: Remembering Black Queer Lives Through Performance

This essay foregrounds Black and queer youth stories of encountering and surviving violence, as reenacted through Tell It!: A Contemporary Chorale for Black Youth Voices. A performance ethnography, Tell It! draws from narratives on the bullying experienced inside and outside K-12 schooling contexts, and narratives of anti-Black and anti-queer violence. Throughout the essay, I argue for the reframing of anti-Black and anti-queer violence as mutually constitutive, coalescing within and through educative spaces and practices. Reflecting on the staged performance of Tell It!, I demonstrate how and why performances of Black and queer youth narratives enable the valuing of these lives and experiences. Rooted in the lives of Black and queer youth, this essay expands educational theory and practice by exploring how the coupling of queer pedagogy, race, and performance creates possibilities for new and different (queer) futures.