A Story of Becoming: Trans* Equity as Ethnodrama

Abstract

Amid today’s political climate, it becomes increasingly critical to encourage and maintain trans*1 equity practices of affirmation and recognition. While providing opportunities for hope and empathy, this article situates ethnodrama within gender theory to stage the lived experience of one female-to-male (FTM) trans* high school student. Distilled from a corpus of ethnographic interviews, this performance captures the student’s school experiences, and exchanges with his parents. Given theater possesses the potential to create empathy and affect social change, this ethnodrama attempts a novel embodiment of the layered complexities of trans* inclusion to foster pedagogies of recognition and gender equity. In this way, this performative text contributes to the burgeoning and important field of gender studies in education.

Decolonising dental educational research: reflections from a white researcher

“…From the range of research-based theatre formats that are available, from monologues, dialogues, plays, to participatory performances, improvisational theatre and readers theatre (Cannon, 2012 ), I settled on the medium of ethnodramas as my mode of dissemination. An ‘(E)thnodrama is a performance-based methodology that uses qualitative data collection methods, such as interviews, field observations, and public documents; after analyzing and interpreting the data, ones uses ethnodramas to represent the data through a dramatic script’ (Sweet & Carlson, 2018 , p.190). Ethnodramas have an established record of being useful in promoting anti-racist work by creating a space where different voices and experiences can be heard and expressed to incite an affective response, reflection and action (Goldstein, 2001 ).…”

“…Ethnodramas have an established record of being useful in promoting anti-racist work by creating a space where different voices and experiences can be heard and expressed to incite an affective response, reflection and action (Goldstein, 2001 ). The creative platform of a drama also affords an element of anonymity to the initial research participant’s testimonies alongside the potential to challenge the audiences’ attitude towards everyday racism (Sweet & Carlson, 2018 ). In addition, ethnodramas ensure the possibility of representational justice (Fraser et al, 2004 ).…”

The Day After: An Ethnodrama About Teachers’ Decision-Making Amid Silencing School Policies

“…In the manuscript, readers will first find a scripted play, based on data from a research project with practicing teachers about their decision-making in the wake of current events and injustices. Following that, a post-script (this manuscript is organized following the models of Foote &Bartell, 2012, andSweet &Carlson, 2018) describes more about the scholarly grounding for the work, as well as the methodology of crafting an ethnodrama. As you read, you are invited to imagine your own prior "days after"-as a student and a teacher-and consider the implications of both teaching on days after and of ethnodramatic research as a catalyst for social change.…”

“…When written in the field of education and educational research, ethnodramas elevate “pedagogical, sociological and political issues to heightened prominence” (Saldaña, 2010, p. 62). Quoting renowned artist and activist Augusto Boal, Sweet and Carlson (2018) draw more attention to the possibilities of ethnodrama:Augusto Boal (1979) writes that theater “is considered to present always a vision of the world in transformation and therefore is inevitably political insofar as it shows the means of carrying out that transformation” (p. xiii). In this quotation, Boal asserts one of his central theses: At its core, performance opens space for new possibilities and uncovers means for creating new sociopolitical realities.…”

“…To craft this ethnodrama, I began by reading published ethnodramas and performance ethnographies, both within and outside of education, and watched recorded examples of ethnotheatre. Beyond the work of Saldaña and Salvatore, I also took inspiration from Petersen’s (2009) dramatic critique of the enterprise university; Ward Randolph and Weems’ (2010) script about how two African American women experience racism in higher education institutions; Foote and Bartell’s (2012) examination of mathematics teacher educators’ life stories; Davis’ (2014) work on students’ experiences transitioning into adult education; Sweet and Carlson’s (2018) work on a high school boy’s gender transition; O’Connell and Lynch’s (2020) script about Deaf interpreters’ and translators’ experiences in Ireland; and Creps’ (2020) performance ethnography about her work as a faculty director for arts-based education abroad programs for undergraduate students. I also found great resonance and inspiration in the recorded ethnotheatre pieces from the Verbatim Performance Lab at New York University’s Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theater (2022).…”