Nepantlera Pedagogy in an Immigrant Youth Theater Project: The Role of a Hmong Educator in Facilitating the Exploration of Culture and Identity

Background/Context: Community-based youth theater programs afford youth opportunities to explore and “author” new identities by “performing writing.” Yet, we know much less about the ways in which immigrant youth are exploring struggles and changes within their families and ethnic community. We particularly lack research about the roles of immigrant adult educators in youth programs, and the significance to the pedagogical process of their experiences, being, and modes of interacting with young people who share with them a common ethnicity. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The purpose of the study is to explore the role of a community-based Hmong immigrant educator as a “nepantlera,” or boundary-crossing “guide” in Hmong youth’s negotiation of culture and identity. It is guided by three questions: (1) How does nepantlera pedagogy move beyond self–other dichotomies? (2) How does nepantlera pedagogy facilitate rewriting the self to construct new visions of ethnic identity? and (3) How does nepantlera pedagogy entail risking the personal? Setting: The research setting was a Hmong community-based arts organization in an urban center in the Midwestern United States. Population/Participants/Subjects: Three 1.5-generation Hmong American adult staff of a community-based organization, one Korean American teaching artist from a local theater company, and 11 second-generation Hmong American adolescents participated in the study. Research Design: The study draws from a critical ethnographic investigation of the culturally relevant practices of a youth theater project within a Hmong coethnic organization. Data Collection and Analysis: Ethnographic data collection occurred over the 4-month program cycle of the theater project. Data sources include field notes from participant observations, semi-structured interviews, audio and video recordings of the activities, work products, and documents about the program and organization. The data were analyzed with thematic analysis techniques. Findings/Results: The findings suggest that the nepantlera pedagogy of the Hmong immigrant educator fostered opportunities for Hmong youth to (1) disrupt binaries between first-generation and second-generation immigrants by exploring not only differences but also commonalities; (2) imagine new ethnic selves by exploring and rewriting a Hmong edict against same-last-name relationships; and (3) experience the vulnerability of their Hmong educator through disclosure about his personal life. Conclusions/Recommendations: The nepantlera pedagogy of an immigrant educator within a coethnic community-based organization brings a perspective from the nepantla, or “in-between,” of culture and identity that provides immigrant youth with a deeper level of cultural knowledge and connectedness to navigate their multiple worlds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ANTONINA TYMCHENKO. POETRY. GLUED TO A STRAW BULL. I WAKE UP WITH YOU. GOD, SAVE AND PROTECT MY PARENTS. TIRED BY TRAVELLING, WALKING. SPEARS ARE BROKEN, AND SO ARE WHEEL SPOKES. I SPRING TO MY FEET AND IN HASTE TO THE WINDOW

Antonina Tymchenko is a poetess, a literary critic, a candidate of Philology, an assistant professor, a member of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine, laureate and organizer of literary contests. The poetess managed a literary and journalistic class at the Central Children’s and Youth Theater №6, was a freelance proofreader, editor, translator, and author at «Ранок», «Фактор», «Клуб сімейного дозвілля», «Основа», «Vivat» and other publishing houses.

Organization of cooperation between the theater and schools (historical aspect)

The article considers the historical organizational and methodological experience of cooperation between the Leningrad Youth Theater and schools of the city in the late 1950-ies. The period is characterized by the end of the artistic direction of A.A. Bryantsev and the restructuring of soviet school in 1958. The purpose of the article is to identify the organizational and pedagogical conditions of cooperation between schools and the theater in the study period. The research problems are based on the pedagogical experience, the role and significance of theater teachers and school teachers in the process of cooperation. A set of historical and pedagogical methods (historical and genetic method, chronological, retrospective), as well as comparative, biographical methods allowed us to consider the historical practice of cooperation between the school and the theater in its development, sequence and regularity. The complex of historical and pedagogical methods (historical and genetic method, chronological, retrospective), as well as comparative, biographical methods allowed us to consider the historical practice of cooperation between school and the theater in its development, sequence and regularity. The principle of historicism and research methods allowed us to analyze the historical period and events in terms of their features and opportunities for participants in educational activities. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the emphasis of the joint activities of the school and the theater is based the assimilation of the moral and ethical component of performance by schoolchildren. The experience and professional duties of the teachers of the Leningrad Youth Theater are considered. The educational work of soviet school and the Theater are described as the result of the research

Dnipropetrovsk Ukrainian academic youth theater in the contemporary sociocultural context

The purpose of this article is concentrated by researcher into revealing of the particularity for modern theater on the example Dnipropetrovsk Ukrainian academic youth theater. The author studies performances for young people that the theater has in its repertoire. The dialogue between the theater and the audience has its own scientific interest for the author. The author uses the most effective methods of scientific research. The author has a need to understand the peculiarities of the style of acting and directing. It is also necessary to understand the general style of the theater. This position is significant, because there is a specificity in the interpretation of theatrical performance. Scientific novelty. This article has its own peculiarity. The author aims to determine for the first time the main provisions of the activities of the Ukrainian academic theater for youth from the Dnieper. To achieve this goal, the author of the article makes an analysis in which there is a specific meaning of the theater's activities, the subject of this research. Theater is analyzed as an artistic value. The author assesses the state of the collective as a theater historian. The activity of the theater is analyzed in the context of the functioning of modern theater culture. This is what makes it possible to understand the features of the historical phenomenon. It combines the present with the past. It aims to understand the perspective of contemporary theater time in the future. Methods. The performances of this theater have the characteristics of a synthetic genre. These performances have the ability to explain the nature of the interaction between theater and music. Therefore, research methods are based on the synthesis of various areas of scientific activity. In which there are various scientific disciplines. Specifically: the structural system of the history of the theater, the use of analytical methods in the analysis of drama, direction, skill of actors, singing, orchestra work, scenography. The author explores their analogies and connections, what unites them and what is opposition. Conclusions. The performances of the Ukrainian academic theater for young people from Dnipro are of different genres. The principles of the dialogue between the theater system and the audience, which exists in mutual exchange, are revealed in these performances. The author notes the real mutual cooperation between the theater and the audience. At the same time, there is an addition of one dramatic tradition to another. You can also observe how professional directors worked with the texts of the plays. The fact of how the structure and style of the performance is changing is significant. The academic professional artistic transformation of vocational performances in modern society is essential relevant.

INNOVATIVE CODES OF THE LANGUAGE OF STAGE ART OF EUGENIY BAGRATIONOVICH VAKHTANGOV ON THE MATERIAL OF PERFORMANCES OF THE BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY

The creative work presented at the International intramural and extramural festival competition of youth theater companies - “Prometheus of a Rukh” - “Spirit of Prometheus” became a threshold of the present article, devoted to the Year of theater in Russia and to the 100 anniversary from the date of the birth of the National poet of Bashkortostan, the playwright Mustaya Karim, and gained the diploma of the Winner of the First degree. In the present work, as part of the creative path, the practice and theorist of the field of art of Eugeniy Bagrationovich Vakhtangov, the language of fantastic realism as the language of artistic theatre is studied. The starting point of the research is to establish the elements of the language of conditional theater based on scenographic, acting and directing decisions in Vakhtangov's performances. For this purpose, the author makes a retrospective appeal to the director's performances. In the analysis of the chosen performances, the artistic deals with innovative instrumentation of Vakhtangov’s theatre language, which formed the director 's own understanding of the artistic style of the theatre as fantastic realism. Elements of the theatrical language of the most significant performances are considered: “Peace Holiday”, “Cricket on an oven”, “Eric XIV”, “Gadibuk” and “Princess Turandot”. Based on the sources in which the performances are described, the Vakhtangov theatre language (style) is analyzed. As a result, descriptive definitions of the concepts of Vakhtangov style and fantastic realism are given. Interfacing analysis with the basic provisions of the concept of fantastic realism, elements of the language of conditional theatre are combined into a single table, which is one of the main results of the work. The work is written within the framework of the project XI.170.1.2. (0325-2017-0013), № АААА-А17-117022250128-5.

Sense Of Multikulturalisme: Potensi Integrasi Dalam Kelompok Teater Pelajar SMA Di Kota Solo

In general, this study departs from a large scheme of research on Sense of Multiculturalism initiated by the Center for Theater Studies and Social Integration. This is a basic research to explore the potencies that exists among adolescents, both related to the conflict as well as efforts to integrate in high school theater groups. Problems of this research include; first, what potencies that can lead them into conflict areas? What potencies that develops in youth theater groups that can anticipate and strengthen the social integration? Data collection is done by interview, observation, and documentation. The results of this study indicate that the potencies that directs group members into conflict is due to the impartiality experienced by students participating in theater extracurricular activities, both from the school as well as from their family. But their potencies in integration is strongerthan the potencies in conflict, namely independence, maturity, togetherness, cooperation, and kinship among members of the student theater group. Keywords: integration, conflict, students theater