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Ganesh Versus the Third Reich as Pedagogical Parable

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Teaching Postdramatic Theatre
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Abstract

This chapter is about the similarities between teaching and directing with respect to power relationships and ethics. However, its primary focus is on the celebrated play Ganesh Versus the Third Reich (2011) by Back to Back Theatre, which I read as a parable for understanding the power dynamics that suffuse all pedagogical activities. Unlike the majority of case studies in this book, Ganesh Versus the Third Reich was produced by a professional theatre company, Australia’s acclaimed Back to Back Theatre, and has no connection with a university. It does, however, provide an uncommonly astute analysis of the power relations at play within the theatre-production environment, thereby introducing one of this book’s major themes: equality, or the (im)possibility of equality, in the pedagogical situation.

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D’Cruz, G. (2018). Ganesh Versus the Third Reich as Pedagogical Parable. In: Teaching Postdramatic Theatre. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71685-5_4

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