A Campus Counter Tour: Performing institutional narratives. Issue 2 (1st December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Syler, Claire
• Is Part Of: Applied theatre research. Volume 7:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 167
• Page End: 183
• Publication Date: 2019-12-01
• Subjects: Theater in community development -- Periodicals; Drama in community development -- Periodicals; Drama in education -- Periodicals; Theater and society -- Periodicals; 792
• DOI: 10.1386/atr_00014_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2049-3010

Abstract

AbstractThis article traces the work of a cross-listed Theatre and Black Studies performance course at a US university that had recently experienced campus protests concerning anti-black racism. The course culminated in an admissions-style walking tour that critically analysed the university environment by juxtaposing dominant institutional narratives with counter accounts performed by a multi-ethnic ensemble of students. The article begins by contextualizing the university's history of anti-black racism and then describes the curriculum created for the class and the broader Campus Counter Tour performance. To conclude, it discusses the assets embedded in the Counter Tour project (accessibility, coalition building, and participation in a movement), which could be valuable for applied theatre practitioners interested in using walking tours to address institutional narratives bound up in racism or colonialism more broadly.