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M.A.
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Native American
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- Creator:
- Armstrong, Neda Mae
- Description:
- Theatre practitioner and scholar, Eugenio Barba has spent much of his professional life questioning what is known and asking what is unknown. His instinct to look beyond his cultural norms propelled him and his students to obtain knowledge of other methods and practices; discoveries that would lead to the term, theatre anthropology. Utilizing aspects of Barba's theatre anthropology to examine transculturation of cultural memory in Native American performance, discovery of how performance has changed and evolved among Navajo Indians is analyzed. Barba's research provides a framework that enables analysis of Native American performance, and the effect of transculturation - melding methods and practices not familiar to Native culture. In his book, The Paper Canoe, Barba explains, "Historical understanding of theatre and dance is often blocked or rendered superficial because of neglect of the logic of the creative process, because of misunderstandings of the performer's empirical way of thinking, and because of an inability to overcome the confines established for the spectator" (11). This thesis observes and analyzes performance of cultural memory of primarily Navajo performers. This thesis charts the changing methods and techniques that that have enabled more Navajo individuals to perform their stories, and have enabled spectators - Native and non-Native - to experience the stories, dances, songs, crafts and arts by artists who are expressing their unique selves. In the first chapter, the ritual ceremony, Male Shooting Way, is analyzed; in the second chapter, poet Laura Tohe's writings and performances are analyzed; in the third chapter, inter-tribal events in the Southwest are researched and analyzed through attendance and participation. The journey of this thesis begins with a holy ceremony, expands slightly to an artist's work inside and outside her Native community and concludes with an analysis of Native performance taken to a larger and commercialized scale; a journey from the micro to the macro: starting small and intimate, evolving to connect with others and concluding with a look at today's multi-cultural performance practices that draw spectators and performers of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Theatre
- Creator:
- Wolf, Katie
- Description:
- My paper examines John Rollin Ridge's 1854 novel, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, which was the first published novel written by a Native American author. The story details the life of the infamous, fictionalized Mexican-American bandit, Joaquin Murieta, as he travels through California during the Gold Rush and commits crimes. While the focal point of this story is Joaquin's trajectory as a civilian to a criminal, the people he interacts with provide the most context about the discriminatory social institutions that were in place during this time period. Unfortunately, although Ridge is the first Native American writer to have published a novel, rather than challenging many of the Anglo-American ideals, he aligns his work with the dominant perspectives that subjugated a wide range of social groups. Specifically, Ridge's portrayal of minority cultures and women aligns with white patriarchal standards that demonstrate his awareness of his audience and, potentially, the prejudices he also maintained. Because Ridge's Cherokee family was involved in a treaty scandal that initiated Indian removal through the Trail of Tears, his background also contributes to complex questions that speculate about this author's detachment from his Native identity. I therefore examine The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta as a complex text that significantly initiates the category of published, Native American literature-though it is simultaneously problematic for its reliance on popular, sensationalist tropes that contribute to a narrative of marginalization and a conquering of minority characters in California. I also compare Ridge's novel to other interpretations of Joaquin Murietta folklore to explain how portrayals of Native Americans have been rewritten and reproduced in these stories.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- English