Course Blog 18 (Andrea)

Both Conquergood and Kealiinohomoku argue that the more scholars are aware that their norms are culturally conditioned, the more accurate and nuanced their work can become. Conquergood points out the ways in which textocentrism can further marginalize subordinated people, and Kealiinohomoku shows examples of Western dance scholars who have elevated their culture's art above all others. In each paper, an ethnographic approach to research and criticism can heighten our awareness of our own assumptions by forcing us to identify the cultural or ethnic underpinnings of epistemologies or art forms that we take for granted.

There are two main ways that I see in which Kealiinohomoku's analysis of ballet is especially helpful in analyzing performance. The first is that it can give me a more functional vocabulary with which to describe unfamiliar types of performance. Instead of seeing the defining feature of these performances as 'strangeness,' I can look for cultural cues from the mise-en-scene, the costumes, the actors' movements, and the rest of the audience. The most unfamiliar performance for me this semester has been Don Giovanni, but using an ethnographic lens might have helped me better appreciate opera. Looking at how the audience is dressed, how large the theater was, and how extravagant the mirrored set and period costume were, I could conclude that opera strives for grandeur as part of its appeal, and judging by the stylized movements of the actors in many scenes and the constant repetition of musical lines, I could recognize the musicianship as another feature to focus on. While it might not have improved this particular performance, it could have helped me appreciate opera as opera instead of just comparing it unfavorably to the genres I prefer.

The second way to use the ethnographic approach is the way that Kealiinohomoku uses it for ballet--it makes the familiar seem unfamiliar, which can help me see it for a moment free of my own assumptions. My experience of Black Watch comes to mind for this kind of analysis. On the way home from that play, a few of us were talking about the all-male cast and the degree to which we and the other audience members around us were willing to accept it as normal. And within the cultural context of this play and of most Western theater that I have seen, it was normal to have mostly men onstage. But it was important to recognize that both the play and my expectations of theater are a specific cultural product rather than a universal norm, and looking deliberately at the ethnicity of the play can help me to do that.