Presentation
A Thing Held in Full View: The Politics of Performance Ethnography as Performance as a Social Practice
American Society for Theatre Research
(2016)
Abstract
In an ongoing fight to defunct reproductive rights, the Texas State Government’s position on women’s health practices places female bodies in conflict as human/non-human/sub-human entities. Using performance as a method of inquiry, this solo performance piece attempts to grapple with how public policy on reproductive rights undervalues the lives of low-income women, sanctioning political rhetoric as absolute truth, while diminishing low-income women as inconsequential victims looking for material gains. Bordering on sincerity and absurdity, I reimagine a series of Texas State congressional hearings on Planned Parenthood using transcripts, various news articles, interviews, random audience members, paper plate facemasks, headless baby dolls, and a portable karaoke machine. Additionally, my performance lingers between empathy and apathy as I deliberate on my role as “a low-income” and “a single-mother” and the relationship between the two therein.
This performance intends to engage with the conference theme by looking at the various ways advocacy and social justice as performance in Arts-Based Research can continue to assist performance ethnographers. I am interested in how differing performance styles in terms of practice and approach can further benefit performance ethnographers when embodying various lived-experiences. While my performance engages with some autoethnography, I am using performance as a method of inquiry to contextualize systemic oppression against women’s health practices and reproductive rights among low-income women.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Fall November, 2016
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DOI
https://www.astr.org/page/16_Conference
Citation Information
Michelle Gibbs. "A Thing Held in Full View: The Politics of Performance Ethnography as Performance as a Social Practice" American Society for Theatre Research (2016) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michelle-gibbs/11/