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- Convenors:
-
Cory Thorne Gutiérrez
(Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Meltem Turkoz (Boğaziçi University)
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- Format:
- Roundtables
- Stream:
- Disciplinary and methodological discussions:
- Location:
- Aula 15
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 17 April, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Short Abstract:
Drawing on intersectional approaches such as postmodern ethnography and contemporary storytelling, and analytic concepts such as structures of feeling, hauntology, and queer theory, we will examine how art, folklore, and ethnography inform/are informed by each other in the quest for social justice.
Long Abstract:
When queer theorist José Muñoz references hauntology and "the ghostly presence of a certain structure of feeling" (2009: 42), he is exploring the ways in which Raymond Williams and Jacques Derrida each theorize on the intersections of art and ethnography. Like with postmodern ethnography, and John Berger's "ways of seeing", it is about learning artistic process, of abstract or figurative work, and the rendering of observed, remembered, or imagined experiences. Artistic practice has the potential to transform and it frequently parallels various forms of tradition and storytelling, but with a power, freedom, and depth that is elusive to many ethnographers.
Be it visual, material, aural, or performative, our case studies will address issues of social justice and transformation, in relation to issues of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and/or economic disparity. We seek contributions from diverse geographic locations, so as to focus on an overarching question of the role of art and artists in contemporary storytelling and ethnography. Our associated roundtable will allow discussion of these connections, while revisiting Gerald Pocius' 2003 essay on art, and re-examining how art, folklore, and ethnography now work together, 16 years after publication of this key work in folklore theory.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 17 April, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Whether performed as object theater, as adult puppetry, or in various traditional styles, puppetry has always been a tool to express subversion, or 'demons rather than institutions' of society. What are puppets called upon to do or perform by puppeteers, artists, and community builders?
Paper long abstract:
What are puppets called upon to do or perform by puppeteers, artists, and community builders? This paper draws from participation in a puppetry intensive with Sandglass Theater in the summer of 2016, from applied uses of puppetry in community building in Istanbul, and from a broader literature on performing objects. The conception of the puppet or performing object as an "actant" (Latour) or as a "text" that has its own volition creates profound and powerful avenues for empathy, ethical exploration and poetic economy. Training as a puppeteer, one of the first things we learn is to "animate" rather than "control" a puppet. This is particularly the case with puppet performance that involves the co-presence of actor and puppet together. Puppetry and material performance problematize notions of text, story and narrative in ways that deepen and challenge concepts in folklore and ethnography.
Paper short abstract:
In its 30-year history, the Cornerstone Theater Company has developed an artistic practice in which caring for the people they work with is a moral, aesthetic, and practical necessity. With Cornerstone, I consider how social justice arises in artistic process and the implications for ethnography.
Paper long abstract:
Since its founding in 1986, Cornerstone Theater Company has been continuously practicing and developing its community-based theater approach. They produced an adapted and translated Clay Cart performed in four different languages at a Los Angeles senior home; toured a 10-community-based adaptation of Winter's Tale; staged an exploration of Venice, CA past, present, and future with dancing houses; and more. Cornerstone's model is iterative. They develop relationships in a community, work with that community over a period of time to develop a play, and then stage the play. The practices they bring to each project, however, help them adapt their work to the needs of the community and the needs of the individual people who work on the productions.
Pulling from my own ethnographic fieldwork during Cornerstone's summer 2016 production in Venice, CA, and the remembered stories of past productions, I explore how systems of care emerge in Cornerstone's practice. By caring for the individuals in the room, members of Cornerstone create the group necessary for putting on a show: community members make up the majority of the cast, work in the production crew, and provide the material that makes the play. Social justice is woven into their work as they simultaneously attempt to address issues of power, oppression, and representation, as well as meet peoples' physical, logistical, and emotional needs—intertwined actions that can come into conflict with and enhance one another. Lessons learned from community-based theater can help us consider ways that ethnographic work intersects with social justice.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I draw from experiences with two fiber arts programs in men's prisons in Oregon and Indiana to consider ethnography alongside and in dialogue with the artists, examining art as the potentiality of materials to transform experiences, perceptions, and knowledge.
Paper long abstract:
This paper situates two case studies of fiber arts programs in men's prisons in the US as both art and ethnography. I will draw from a collaborative exhibit created in 2011 with a crochet club at an Oregon penitentiary, in addition to my involvement as a volunteer and researcher in a knitting circle in an Indiana prison from 2012-2017. In both groups, the men who participated held varying levels of skill and artistry; their experiences of creativity and motivations to participate in the groups diverged as well, as reflected in their material objects and narratives. While the men made items to donate to individuals in need of warm clothing and comfort, the pieces they created communicated meanings beyond their objects' functions; skill, aesthetics, and meaning-making intersected in a knitted hat or a crocheted blanket.
I draw from Mikhail Bakhtin's theorization on the polyphonic utterance to consider the fiber art created by the incarcerated artists as nodes of dialogue. As such, the knitted and crocheted objects were activated and circulated through inside and outside audiences. As the men transformed materials into functional objects, they created art charged with potentialities to transform the men's daily environment; to transform their pasts; to transform their family and community relationships; and to transform their identities, including their own interpretations of masculinity. On display and in use, the objects gave the men access to present their narratives to outside worlds, and altered my own ideas of ethnography and collaboration.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper the focus is on a temporary photo-exhibition that was launched at the National Museum of Iceland in January 2018. The exhibition deals with questions of home and personal objects, belonging, identity, exclusion and migration. In my paper I focus in particular on audience engagement and visitor views regarding the exhibition.
Paper long abstract:
In recent years focus on migration, immigration and mobility has continued to develop and cultivate within the field of museum studies. Many museums are experimenting with new curatorial practices – such as co-curating, participative collecting, international and interdisciplinary networking or artistic co-operations. Diverse museum have been reorganizing and reinterpreting their collections and renovating their galleries, with the aim of considering migration and cultural diversity as part of the story they tell. As I will discuss in the paper limited research has however been done on how visitors actually engage with migration themes. The paper emerges from my recent examination on the photo-exhibition "The Long Apartment Block in Upper Breiðholt" that was launched in January 2018 and exhibited until June 2018 at the National Museum of Iceland. The exhibition was a collaboration project between the museum and the photographer, David Barreiro, and it engaged with themes such as mobility, home and personal objects, exclusion, belonging and migration. In my investigation I interviewed the photographer and museum staff but the main focus of my study was on visitor responses in relation to the exhibition. My aim was to shed light on how the exhibition was contextualized within the museum narrative and also if and then how it changed visitor ideas or attitudes in relation to immigrants in Iceland.
Paper short abstract:
My paper explores the role that drag performances have played on the fight for social justice and equality, particularly when it comes to the fight for Transgender people's right. I study drag performances as an artistic expression that has aided the Latinx community in Houston to gain visibility.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores the role that Latinx drag performances in Houston have played on the fight for social justice and equality, particularly when it comes to the fight for Transgender people's right. I study drag performances as an artistic expression that has aided the Latinx community in Houston to gain some visibility among the society-at-large, but also within the mainstream LGBTQ+ community. The creation of social spaces has been an important practice amongst groups to develop a sense of community and identity. The Mexican and Central American communities in Houston are not the exception. I argue that for a group of Latin Drag performers in Houston, the creation of spaces in which they can show their performances has aided them to develop not only an imaginary sense of community, in which they perform their gender and sexuality, as well as their national identity, but also as a way to advocate for their right. Several of the human right and social justice advocacy initiatives have evolved because of the communities created at those spaces. In addition, I discuss the disjunction between official discourses and the experience of everyday life for LatinX LGBTQ+ individuals. Can queer and gender, and critical race theory create change on the level that is required to move society from tolerance to acceptance and understanding? Can critical folkloristics help shift us in a new, more influential direction in order to obtain effective results? These are two relevant questions my paper addresses.
Paper short abstract:
An examination of messages encoded in musical performances with attention to gender diverse expressions. The focus is on changing musical traditions and how performers engage with new and creative ways to make positive affirmations in connection with their identity, community, or a social movement.
Paper long abstract:
Creative and musical expression may be stifled by social stress when living in a complex system of intersecting oppressions and privileges such as a kyriarchy, a term coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in her 2001 book Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation. In 1987 Joan N. Radner and Susan S. Lanser explored the varied ways in which women approach coding as a form of expression through performance in "The Feminist Voice: Strategies of Coding in Folklore and Literature." If one is to expand upon these ideas to include shifting forms of gender performances a vast array of artistic expressions may be observed. Through this framework, I am examining the messages encoded in musical performances by women and gender variant people with attention to gender diverse expressions, subversive messages and expressions of empowerment. This study has a focus on changing musical traditions as performers engage with the material in new and creative ways to make positive affirmations in connection with their identity, community, or a social movement.
Keywords: Gender, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Traditional Music, Folk Music, Performance, Heritage
Paper short abstract:
Luis Copperi's "conflicto almado" (Conflicted Soul/Armed Conflict), shows a man on a stage, naked except for a helmet and military epaulettes. It shows the stigmatized vernacular, protected by poetic interpretation, while referencing the many layers of context that I struggle with in my own writing.
Paper long abstract:
Luis Copperi's "conflicto almado" (Conflicted Soul/Armed Conflict), shows a young man on a stage, naked except for a helmet and military epaulettes, decorated with the communist star. His face is masked by a tourist brochure, painted into a clown smile. This painting (mixed media and printers ink on craft paper) is a representation of the stigmatized vernacular, protected by poetic interpretation, while referencing/visualizing the embodiment of politics, sex, tourism, ethics, morality, and survival.
Writing about the doubly stigmatized, requires an exceptional level of access, deep respect, and trust between academics and our collaborators. Inspired by Schuman and Goldstein, I will argue for the role of folkloristics in relation to queer theory so as to understand and explain the lives of Cuban men who engage in sex work, serve their revolutionary function, and hide within exposed bodies. It is the challenge of deep contextualization and cultural translation, but while dealing with topics that challenge broader cultural imaginations of right/wrong, or good/bad.
Through this case study, I refute critiques of queer theory's disconnect with everyday life and diversity, as well as critiques of folkloristics as insufficiently theoretical/analytical, while demonstrating my approach to theorizing with my collaborators. Using conflicto almado, we will see how my collaborators define Cuban masculinities and sexualities in contrast with that of the Global North. I work to better tell their stories of expressive culture, through their own voices, however mediated in relation to larger-than-local perceptions of masculinity, sexuality, and morality.