Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Indigeneity and Performance
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Drama and Theatre
Abstract
This project examines the transfer of oral and embodied practices within and across cultures by focusing on indigenous performance as a unique lens through which to rethink aspects of non-textual communication. Indigenous performance is chosen for its highly developed usage of oral, kinetic and spatial modes of expression, its complex enactments of social and historical memory, and its potential to probe the contingency of Western ideas about text-based knowledge. We propose a series of three interdisciplinary workshops designed to stimulate scholarship in this field by bringing together world-leading researchers from Britain and abroad to debate specific but connected concepts in relation to indigeneity. The focus themes are 'Heritage and Material Culture', Orality and Transmission', and 'Mobility and Belonging'. The first of these workshops will be hosted to coincide and interact with the Origins Festival of indigenous performance, a London event produced by Border Crossings Theatre and involving artists from North America, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Proposed participants across the workshops programme are drawn from disciplines as diverse as geography, anthropology, performance studies, musicology, politics, heritage management, dance, media arts, history, and postcolonial theory. The involvement of international visitors, particularly from the USA is a key feature of this project. While theatre, dance and film will figure prominently among the expressive forms to be canvassed, performance is interpreted more broadly to encompass site-specific and mixed media enactments as well as political protests and 'cultural' performances incorporated into heritage tourism and sports-based pageantry. Insights drawn from workshop discussions will be disseminated more widely via journal publications and public talks at the Origins Festival. The co-investigators for the proposed workshops are both invited consultants to the festival's organisers.
Proposed participants across the workshops programme are drawn from disciplines as diverse as geography, anthropology, performance studies, musicology, politics, heritage management, dance, media arts, history, and postcolonial theory. The involvement of international visitors, particularly from the USA is a key feature of this project. While theatre, dance and film will figure prominently among the expressive forms to be canvassed, performance is interpreted more broadly to encompass site-specific and mixed media enactments as well as political protests and 'cultural' performances incorporated into heritage tourism and sports-based pageantry. Insights drawn from workshop discussions will be disseminated more widely via journal publications and public talks at the Origins Festival. The co-investigators for the proposed workshops are both invited consultants to the festival's organisers.
Publications
Davis T
(2013)
INDIGENOUS PERFORMANCE OF HISTORY, LOSS AND REMEMBRANCE IN WHISPERING IN OUR HEARTS The Story of the Mowla Bluff Massacre
in Interventions
Gilbert H
(2013)
INDIGENEITY, TIME AND THE COSMOPOLITICS OF POSTCOLONIAL BELONGING IN THE ATOMIC AGE
in Interventions
Gilbert H
(2013)
INDIGENEITY AND PERFORMANCE
in Interventions
Gleghorn C
(2013)
REVISIONING THE COLONIAL RECORD La relación de Michoacán and Contemporary Mexican Indigenous Film
in Interventions
Henderson, I (Author)
(2010)
Antipodean Childhoods: Growing up in Australia and New Zealand
Impey A
(2013)
SONGS OF MOBILITY AND BELONGING Gender, Spatiality and the Local in Southern Africa's Transfrontier Conservation Development
in Interventions
Kulchyski P
(2013)
'SPEAKING THE STRONG WORDS' Notes on Performing Indigenous Community Politics in Denendeh
in Interventions
Pratt S
(2013)
OBJECTS, PERFORMANCE AND ETHNOGRAPHIC SPECTACLE George Catlin in Europe
in Interventions
Ramnarine T
(2013)
SONIC IMAGES OF THE SACRED IN SÁMI CINEMA From Finno-Ugric Rituals to Fanon in an Interpretation of Ofelaš ( Pathfinder )
in Interventions
| Title | Contribution to Origins Festival |
| Description | The Workshops series collaborated with Bordercrossings to stage parts of the Origins Festival of Indigenous Performance |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2009 |
| Impact | Expansion of Festival in subsequent years. |
| Description | 1. Ecological issues such as climate change, recycling, resource management and food distribution are a key concern for indigenous performance makers across the regions studied and often become points of connection in otherwise disparate art forms and practices. 2. There are widespread efforts among indigenous artists to creatively resist the commoditisation of their cultures within traditionalist frameworks and to reposition them as contemporary, responsive and aesthetically innovative. 3. Digital media, particularly video, has been widely integrated into the performing arts repertoires examined. In Latin America, film and video are key means by which indigenous communities creatively communicate cultural and environmental concerns to broader audiences. 4. Contemporary performance works show indigenous identities to be more flexible, strategic and contingent than has been argued in anthropological research. While energising artistic practice, identity politics are often held up to scrutiny through humour and reflexive dramatisations of the cultural entanglements that ensue from colonialism. 5. Transnational dialogues and sharing of arts practices, especially on the issues of social and environmental justice, are occurring with increasing regularity between indigenous filmmakers, performance practitioners and cultural leaders across the world. International festivals (including in Europe) provide powerful platforms for such dialogues. 6. Performing arts, including adaptations of Western texts, play a vital role in the preservation and intergenerational transmission of indigenous cultural heritage. Performance based projects have been instrumental in revivifying endangered indigenous languages in remote Australian, South African and Amazonian communities, for example. 7. Public engagement with indigenous peoples and perspectives appears to be significantly enhanced by access to aesthetic and affective elements of their cultures, rather than by didactic explanations. Feedback from the project exhibition showed that visitors strongly approved of its gallery context and focus on experiential encounters with indigenous arts. 8. The museum sector would greatly benefit from working more closely with indigenous artists and performance makers, following successful models in postcolonial nations such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There is considerable public interest in indigenous arts in Europe, but little understanding of their contemporary character or potential to illuminate global debates. |
| Exploitation Route | They could inform festival programming, museum presentations and cultural activities in Europe more generally, and, to some extent, already have done this. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Horniman Museum in London and Museum of Ethnology in Berlin have both added to ethnographic collections based on exposure to indigenous performance makers introduced by PI Origins Festival of London has increased audiences by 50% since beginning of collaboration with PI |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | European Research Council Advanced Grant Scheme |
| Amount | € 2,363,323 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 03/2009 |
| End | 11/2014 |
| Description | Contribution to Origins Festival 2011 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Chaired and participated in workshop on international festivals |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Interdisciplinary Symposium, 'Heritage and Material Culture'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 19 participants including 2 indigenous artist/researchers and 3 early career researchers. Discussion Development of innovative research for journal issue |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Interdisciplinary Symposium, 'Mobility and Belonging'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 20 invited participants, including 6 early career researchers and 1 indigenous artist. Discussion Development of innovative research for journal issue |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Interdisciplinary Symposium, 'Orality and Transmission'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 22 participants, including 4 early career researchers and 7 indigenous artists/researchers. Discussion Development of innovative research for journal issue |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| Description | Lecture on Indigeneity and Cosmopolitanism |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 35+ attendees - good discussion afterwards 1 student selecting topic of lecture for further study in PhD |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Let the Games Begin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture: "Let the games begin: Indigenous Performance and Global Spectacle, 1976-2000," Public Lecture Series, Royal Holloway, University of London, 7 February 2010. Podcast. Lively debate sparked. Several members of the public approached me afterwards saying the talk had changed their opinions about indigenous peoples. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2012/02/helen-gilbert-'let-the-games-begin'-indigenous-performance-a... |
| Description | Organised, Chaired and contributed to 1.5hr playwrights panel for Origins Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked questions/discussions and interested public in attending the Festival Repeat invitation by Origins to organise and speak on Festival panels |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2011,2013 |