Native American Performance and Representation
296 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Nov 2011
ISBN:9780816502400
Native American Performance and Representation
Edited by S. E. Wilmer
The University of Arizona Press
Native performance is a multifaceted and changing art form as well as a swiftly growing field of research. Native American Performance and Representation provides a wider and more comprehensive study of Native performance, not only its past but also its present and future. Contributors use multiple perspectives to look at the varying nature of Native performance strategies. They consider the combination and balance of the traditional and modern techniques of performers in a multicultural world. This collection presents diverse viewpoints from both scholars and performers in this field, both Natives and non-Natives. Important and well-respected researchers and performers such as Bruce McConachie, Jorge Huerta, and Daystar/Rosalie Jones offer much-needed insight into this quickly expanding field of study.
This volume examines Native performance using a variety of lenses, such as feminism, literary and film theory, and postcolonial discourse. Through the many unique voices of the contributors, major themes are explored, such as indigenous self-representations in performance, representations by nonindigenous people, cultural authenticity in performance and representation, and cross-fertilization between cultures. Authors introduce important, though sometimes controversial, issues as they consider the effects of miscegenation on traditional customs, racial discrimination, Native women’s position in a multicultural society, and the relationship between authenticity and hybridity in Native performance.
An important addition to the new and growing field of Native performance, Wilmer’s book cuts across disciplines and areas of study in a way no other book in the field does. It will appeal not only to those interested in Native American studies but also to those concerned with women’s and gender studies, literary and film studies, and cultural studies.
This volume examines Native performance using a variety of lenses, such as feminism, literary and film theory, and postcolonial discourse. Through the many unique voices of the contributors, major themes are explored, such as indigenous self-representations in performance, representations by nonindigenous people, cultural authenticity in performance and representation, and cross-fertilization between cultures. Authors introduce important, though sometimes controversial, issues as they consider the effects of miscegenation on traditional customs, racial discrimination, Native women’s position in a multicultural society, and the relationship between authenticity and hybridity in Native performance.
An important addition to the new and growing field of Native performance, Wilmer’s book cuts across disciplines and areas of study in a way no other book in the field does. It will appeal not only to those interested in Native American studies but also to those concerned with women’s and gender studies, literary and film studies, and cultural studies.
Provides fascinating insight into the rich arts and artistry of post-'60s Red Power theater, representation, and multimedia arts in Indigenous North America.'—Great Plains Quarterly
‘Wilmer’s book gives performance students and scholars a much-needed resource: a text that examines an array of performance traditions from an array of perspectives, initiating a dialogue across the disciplines of theater, music, dance, and visual art on the presentations and representations of and by indigenous peoples.’—Ann Haugo, co-editor of Querying Difference in Theatre History
S. E. Wilmer is an associate professor of drama and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and he has served as a visiting professor at Stanford University and UC Berkeley. He is the author of Theatre, Society, and the Nation: Staging American Identities. He is also a playwright and his plays have been produced in venues around the world including New York’s Lincoln Center.
Introduction
Part I Reframing Dance, Performance, and Traditional Stories for a Postmodern Era
Part II The Native Body in Performance
Part III Native Representation in Drama
Part IV Challenging Stereotypes through Film
Notes
About the Contributors
Index
