[Last modified: November, 22 2024 08:48 PM]
Unfortunately, due to feeling unwell as I am on my period, I was unable to actively participate in the Forum Theatre session in this class but was present as a “passive spectator.” Despite this, I found the performances of my classmates both engaging and thought-provoking. The most memorable scene involved two classmates portraying a conflict, which was repeated to allow for interventions from others. As the performance unfolded, the audience was encouraged to critically engage and suggest possible resolutions. This interaction demonstrated the power of Forum Theatre as an ethnographic tool—one that can transform spectators into active participants, or “spect-actors.”
Forum Theatre, as part of the Theatre of the Oppressed method, allows the audience to intervene in a performance, offer alternative solutions to the social issues depicted, and even take on roles themselves. In this way, it enables participants to understand and engage with complex social dynamics in ways that traditional ethnographic methods may not. The act of interrupting the performance and proposing solutions provides a unique space to explore more-than-textual ways of doing anthropology—beyond merely observing or recording. The process highlights the performative and collaborative nature of multimodal methods in anthropology, which are far more inventive and interactive than the passive, descriptive methods often used in traditional research.
On the other hand, performance, in this context, allows us to go beyond representing reality; it becomes a space for reimagining and reshaping it. By engaging with the performance, we explore social roles, power structures, and identity relations through action, language, and behavior. For example, during the Forum Theatre, we were able to witness how different actors—whether on stage or in the audience—interacted with the underlying power dynamics in the conflict. This kind of engagement challenges anthropological perspectives by allowing for the fluidity of social realities to be played out, questioned, and reconstructed in real-time.
What’s more, the collaborative characteristic of Forum Theatre enables researchers to involve communities in a more participatory and empowering process. Rather than standing apart, anthropologists can co-create knowledge by engaging participants in performance-based methods that reflect their lived experiences. Observing and analyzing the interactions during these performances provides rich qualitative data on social dynamics, cultural norms, and power relations within a community.
All in all, my experience as a spectator reinforced the idea that performance can offer anthropologists unique insights into social practices, enabling both researchers and communities to challenge oppressive norms and generate new ways of understanding and acting upon the world.