Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Performance ethnography takes as its working premise that a theatrical representation of what one discovers through participant-observation fieldwork provides a vibrant and textured rendering of cultural others. Performance for the performance ethnographer is typically understood as an aesthetic act within a theatrical tradition. In western cultures this artistic endeavor calls upon actors through their use of presentational skills to evoke others for the consideration of audiences. Not to be confused with the ethnography of performance which examines cultural performances as objects of investigation, performance ethnography relies upon the embodiment of cultural others. As such, it is a method of inquiry that privileges the body as a site of knowing. This method of inquiry is a close cousin to standard ethnographic practices. In fact, performance ethnographers deploy the same methodological strategies available to all ethnographers in their fieldwork. What marks the performance ethnographer as distinct, however, is their mode of representation. In-print representations of others based upon observation or even full participation in cultural practices is insufficient for the performance ethnographer. Instead, they strive to represent their cultural findings through the enactment of cultural others. By doing so, they believe they add flesh to the dry bones of the traditional ethnographic ... log in or subscribe to read full text