Abstract
This critical autoethnography follows the creation of a performance ethnographic film as applied learning pedagogy in an undergraduate communication studies department. During their collaboration, a video production and a performance studies professor grapple with the competing expectations of film critics, performance studies scholars, and undergraduate student performers in an effort to create peer-reviewed artistic research that is accessible to nonacademic audiences. The film (which features narrative excerpts from a project focused on disability, identity, and US culture) highlights the complications of insider versus outsider research, the pervasiveness of disability stigma, and the ethics of embodying others’ stories in critical storytelling performance. The chapter concludes with evidence of the power of personal narrative performance to pursue hyper-embodiment, empathetic connection, and social justice.
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- 1.
A black box theater is a small theater with four black walls and a flat floor that keeps the audience close to the actors.
- 2.
- 3.
I have changed the names and identifying features of the students in the film to ensure that their identities remain confidential. While several offered to be named in this section, where their enthusiasm exposes the vulnerabilities of the methodology, I want to preserve their privacies.
- 4.
Read through the Performance Transcription Exercise at the end of this chapter to experiment with character performance through qualitative transcription.
- 5.
See Chapter 3 for a discussion of performance transcription and the “Performance Transcription Exercise” that follows Chapter 4.
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Scott, JA. (2018). Chapter 4: Creating Accessible, Pedagogical Storytelling Performances as Research—Take 1. In: Embodied Performance as Applied Research, Art and Pedagogy. Creativity, Education and the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63661-0_4
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