Saldana Brings Ethnotheatre Research from Page to Stage

We are pleased to announce the recent release of the book "Ethnotheatre Research from Page to Stage" by IJCAIP Advisory Board Member and Professor of Theatre, School of Theatre and Film, Arizona State University, Johnny Saldana. Saldana is well recognized as an international leader in the field. The book has been published by Left Coast Press and "covers the preparation of a dramatic presentation from the research and writing stages to the elements of stage production. Saldaña nurtures playwrights through adaptation and stage exercises, and delves into the complex ethical questions of turning the personal into theatre. Throughout, he emphasizes the vital importance of creating good theatre as well as good research for impact on an audience and performers. The volume includes multiple scenes from contemporary ethnodramas plus two complete play scripts as exemplars of the genre."

Performed Ethnography Disseminates Knowledge About HIV/AIDS

Performed Ethnography, HIV/AIDS & Aboriginal Youth

The University of Toronto, Sidney Smith, Room 1078 – 100 St. George Street:

Sept 23rd, 1:30-3:00

with:

June Larkin, New College, University of Toronto

Tiffany Nelson, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto

Christine Smillie, Ontario Institute for Studies In Education

The Youth Warriors, Native and Family Services of Toronto

In this presentation we present an innovative knowledge dissemination strategy for research on HIV/AIDS and Aboriginal youth. In partnership with Native Child and Family Services a group of Aboriginal youth, “The Youth Warriors”, worked with Aboriginal actor, Herbie Barnes, to turn data collected in a study on HIV/AIDS and Aboriginal youth into scripts and discussion questions for HIV/AIDS education. The youth also produced photographs and collages to complement their performance pieces. We will discuss the process of developing the arts-based education strategy and the value of this approach for HIV prevention. The presentation will include samples of the youth performances and artistic productions.

June Larkin is Senior Lecturer and Vice Principal of New College and coordinator of the Gendering Adolescent AIDS Prevention (GAAP) Project, Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto (UofT). For more information on GAAP, see: www.utgaap.info

Tiffany Nelson is a Youth Mental Health Outreach Worker at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. She was also a panel member at the Young Leaders' Forum for the Canadian Centre for Diversity, UofT.

Christine Smillie-Adjarkwa is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies In Education, UofT.

Christine is the Research Coordinator for the Performed Ethnography, HIV/AIDS & Aboriginal Youth Project.

Free, all are welcome, please RSVP to adrian.guta@utoronto.ca

Please see our website for upcoming seminar summaries and other events: www.cuhi.utoronto.ca

Saldana to Conduct Ethnodrama and Arts Based Research Workshop at Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

Registration is underway for The Fifth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry to be held May 20 - 23, 2009 at The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. I was pleased to see Johnny Saldana will be offering a workshop at the Congress this year "Ethnodrama and Ethnotheatre: Arts-Based Research from Page to Stage". Johnny Saldana is also a member of our CCAHTE
Journal (Canadian Creative Arts in Health, Training and Education Journal) Advisory Board.

(from the ICQI programme)

Workshop Title: Ethnodrama and Ethnotheatre: Arts-Based Research from Page to Stage

No prior theatre or performance experience is needed to participate in this workshop. Arts-based research, ethnodrama in particular, has been advocated by such key figures in qualitative inquiry as Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln as a powerful way for ethnography to recover yet interrogate the meanings of lived experiences. This workshop will introduce the fundamentals of dramatizing data and explore how qualitative research transfers "from page to stage." The session will provide a literature review of available ethnodramas with participants reading aloud informally from scripts (and, pending A/V availability, watching videos of ethnotheatrical performance). We will then explore how the participants' personal lived experiences can become "autoethnographic monologues." Participants will select a personal story as the basis for workshopping an informal retelling of that work to peers. The facilitator will guide each researcher-as-storyteller through the process of selecting necessary sensory details, choosing evocative language, and employing gesture and voice as instruments for dramatizing the data.

The deadline for submitting papers is past, however, registration for the Congress itself is ongoing. The Congress has some excellent presentations and workshops planned. A great opportunity to connect with others with like interests around the inspiring theme,

"Advancing Human Rights through Qualitative Inquiry"

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