Exploring radical openness: A porous model for relational festival performance

O'Grady, Alice

doi:10.1386/stap.33.2.133_1

“…The Kelston African group, for example, acknowledged this approach, 'offering moves from Nigeria, Ghana, Congo and South Africa [wanting] to show the strength of our solidarity'. The inventiveness of these practices confirmed the strength of cross-cultural friendships and collective worldviews (Faleolo, 2020), but also how festivals provided an openness for such cross-cultural possibilities (O'Grady, 2013a). Youth participants also picked up on the extent of this cultural diversity at festivals stating that it encouraged cross cultural mixing: 'it's so diverse, that you can just…meet new people, you know, see people you know.…”

Section: Trans-ethnic Solidaritiesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Strategic Solidarities: Cultural Festivals, Relational Encounters and Diasporic Youth Identities

Wood

¹

,

Homolja

²

2021

Journal of Intercultural Studies

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“…The framework of liminality lends itself well to the analysis of festivals (O'Grady, 2013a(O'Grady, , 2013b) and it links with notions such as third space, which is understood as liminal as well (Bhabha, 1996). Festivals consist of an interruption, or discontinuum of the daily flows of life through their performative and ritualistic features.…”

Section: Festival Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, research has identified festivals as sites where diverse communities can articulate identities, form solidarities, and resist mainstream narratives towards their respective cultures (Bramadat, 2001;Lee, Arcodia, & Lee, 2012a, b). Due to the liminal nature of these festivals, they can often constitute spaces of highly public affirmation of these cultural identities (O'Grady, 2013a). O'Grady (2013a) suggests such sites also create a radical openness, that can enable a bridging across cultural divides and disrupt hierarchies established in day-to-day interactions.…”

Section: Context and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As discussed earlier, festivals are arguably events in which aspects of identity are highly observable due to the heightened way in which it is performed. Festivals are sites which offer an extraordinary mood, or "eventness" as that can provide an atmosphere where people can perform, improvise and play, encounter others and share in an environment which fosters radical openness (O'Grady, 2013a(O'Grady, , 2013bO'Grady & Kill, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Our dance is a celebration of the fabric of modern New Zealand”: Identity, Community, Solidarity and Citizenship at Youth Polyfests in Aotearoa New Zealand

Homolja¹

0

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<p>One feature of the growing levels of cultural diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand has been the growth of cultural festivals. These originated primarily for Pacific groups to maintain and sustain cultural performance and traditions, but increasingly such festivals reflect the growing ethnic minority groups present in most of New Zealand’s large urban centres. Specific cultural festivals for school-aged young people are attended by thousands of young New Zealanders annually, yet to date have rarely been a feature of research. This study aimed to explore the role that cultural festivals may play in contributing to the identity, belonging and citizenship experiences of ethnic minority youth growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand. The thesis draws on ethnographic data obtained at three cultural festivals (Polyfests) for school-aged young people in 2018 (ASB Auckland Polyfest, Tu Tagata, Wellington and Northern Regional Polyfest, Porirua). Employing ethnographic participant observation, coupled with approaches drawn from ethnomusicology and dance ethnography, data collection included observation of speeches, public announcements and performances, dance moves and music, as well as on-the-fly discussions with festival performers and analysis of associated media (brochures, media reports, online articles). The festivals performances and their potential to enable spaces of possibility for identity-formation were analysed through Bhabha’s (1996) notion of ‘third-space’. The study drew attention to the way young performers strategically employed fusions of traditional and contemporary music and dance genres within their performances to articulate new ways of seeing themselves. These performances also served to maintain and validate ethnic and school-based identities, as well as to gain status and recognition by creating symbolic representations of the way that performers wished their cultural group to be viewed by audiences. Festival spaces also allowed cultural groups to consolidate homogenous (ethnic) solidarities as well as articulate new ways of seeing themselves as belonging through heterogenous (inter-ethnic) and school-based solidarities. The study underscores the significance of festival spaces as ‘counter-spaces’ in New Zealand society in which ethnic minority youth could experience (and create) identity-affirming, counter-hegemonic experiences outside of the dominant discourses frequently projected on them by White New Zealand.</p>

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“…In recent years, research has identified festivals as sites where diverse communities can articulate identities, form solidarities, and resist mainstream narratives towards their respective cultures (Bramadat, 2001;Lee, Arcodia, & Lee, 2012a, b). Due to the liminal nature of these festivals, they can often constitute spaces of highly public affirmation of these cultural identities (O'Grady, 2013a). O'Grady (2013a) suggests such sites also create a radical openness, that can enable a bridging across cultural divides and disrupt hierarchies established in day-to-day interactions.…”

Section: Context and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Our dance is a celebration of the fabric of modern New Zealand”: Identity, Community, Solidarity and Citizenship at Youth Polyfests in Aotearoa New Zealand

Homolja¹

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

<p>One feature of the growing levels of cultural diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand has been the growth of cultural festivals. These originated primarily for Pacific groups to maintain and sustain cultural performance and traditions, but increasingly such festivals reflect the growing ethnic minority groups present in most of New Zealand’s large urban centres. Specific cultural festivals for school-aged young people are attended by thousands of young New Zealanders annually, yet to date have rarely been a feature of research. This study aimed to explore the role that cultural festivals may play in contributing to the identity, belonging and citizenship experiences of ethnic minority youth growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand. The thesis draws on ethnographic data obtained at three cultural festivals (Polyfests) for school-aged young people in 2018 (ASB Auckland Polyfest, Tu Tagata, Wellington and Northern Regional Polyfest, Porirua). Employing ethnographic participant observation, coupled with approaches drawn from ethnomusicology and dance ethnography, data collection included observation of speeches, public announcements and performances, dance moves and music, as well as on-the-fly discussions with festival performers and analysis of associated media (brochures, media reports, online articles). The festivals performances and their potential to enable spaces of possibility for identity-formation were analysed through Bhabha’s (1996) notion of ‘third-space’. The study drew attention to the way young performers strategically employed fusions of traditional and contemporary music and dance genres within their performances to articulate new ways of seeing themselves. These performances also served to maintain and validate ethnic and school-based identities, as well as to gain status and recognition by creating symbolic representations of the way that performers wished their cultural group to be viewed by audiences. Festival spaces also allowed cultural groups to consolidate homogenous (ethnic) solidarities as well as articulate new ways of seeing themselves as belonging through heterogenous (inter-ethnic) and school-based solidarities. The study underscores the significance of festival spaces as ‘counter-spaces’ in New Zealand society in which ethnic minority youth could experience (and create) identity-affirming, counter-hegemonic experiences outside of the dominant discourses frequently projected on them by White New Zealand.</p>

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Exploring radical openness: A porous model for relational festival performance

Cited by 7 publications

References 5 publications

Strategic Solidarities: Cultural Festivals, Relational Encounters and Diasporic Youth Identities

Strategic Solidarities: Cultural Festivals, Relational Encounters and Diasporic Youth Identities

“Our dance is a celebration of the fabric of modern New Zealand”: Identity, Community, Solidarity and Citizenship at Youth Polyfests in Aotearoa New Zealand

“Our dance is a celebration of the fabric of modern New Zealand”: Identity, Community, Solidarity and Citizenship at Youth Polyfests in Aotearoa New Zealand

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