The practice of the “ Theatre of the oppressed” from an ethnological perspective. A dialogue.

Abstract

During a Theatre of the Oppressed Seminar the Kuringa explained: “I look at reality, take a step back and create a reality with understanding. I observe, I analyse, I create an Image of the Reality to go back to discuss about Reality”. (Field notes) Could we put in relation the creation process of theatre with ethnographic research? What could come out? There are many intersections as interesting critique points which can be relevant for both. My understanding of ethnographic research, political and collaborative, brought me to the following methodological questionings. I observed theatre practice participating at the activities of a theatre group for six months. I presented my analysis and interpretation to the participants and I did interviews to deepen specific themes. The inputs collected are not objective ones and the results does not aim to be definitive but to reflect on questions of contemporary social science. We move and observe the space on the not clearly definable borders between arts, science and politics. My point of view is that this perspective from “inside” the borders makes the discussion interesting. To me as a scholar the re-thinking of the methodology of anthropological research appears as a must. The goal is to contribute to discussion about collaborative ethnography. The dialogue between theatre of the Oppressed and ethnography is interesting and needs to be explored further and the concept “dialogue” needs specific critical attention.