Creating Indigenous Futures
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CREATING INDIGENOUS FUTURES Using Applied Theatre to Construct a Participatory Creative Space for Indigenous Australian Young People ROSEMARY JOAN BLIGHT B.A., Dip. Ed., M.Ed. Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2012 Artistic & Creative Education Melbourne Graduate School of Education The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the use of applied theatre with disadvantaged Indigenous Australian young people. It examines the characteristics, challenges and opportunities of using applied theatre practices with Indigenous young people in an Indigenous community setting. The research considers the relationship between the fields of applied theatre, participatory forms of qualitative research and Indigenous research. The research responds to the low attendance and engagement of Indigenous young people in education in Australia. Poor rates of school completion combined with high rates of imprisonment means that at least half the Indigenous young people in Australia are underachieving, and are at risk of a future characterized by extreme disadvantage and disconnection from the mainstream. This research began as broad concern with how to reconnect disaffected Indigenous young people with education. Subsequently the research question was reframed as: how can applied theatre be used in the construction of a participatory creative space for Indigenous Australian young people? The study began as an invitation from Nungalinya College in Darwin to the researcher, a non-Indigenous teaching artist experienced in intercultural drama and theatre. Adopting a reflective practitioner stance the researcher explored the central role of applied theatre in building Indigenous young people’s engagement with culturally appropriate creative practices. The study consisted of three applied theatre projects conducted over three years. The first was a one-week Pilot Project in 2006. The second was a five-week intensive program conducted in 2007; the third was two weeks in 2008. The research was a partnership between Trinity College, the researcher-practitioner, who was employed at Trinity College, and Nungalinya College Youth Program. Contact was maintained between the three projects. The researcher became immersed in a new and unfamiliar cultural, social, political and environmental space in order to try to understand the lived realities of the young people. The development of deeper understanding by the researcher of Indigenous perspectives on partnerships, relationships, and cultural safety facilitated the young people’s participation. The researcher found it necessary to i adapt applied theatre to incorporate the making of short films as a medium of storytelling and as an initiative of the young people. The building of conditions for participation required complex and sensitive relationships, which evolved through negotiation and collaboration. In a newly constructed creative space the young people had the opportunity to build new narratives to move beyond their habitual patterns and to imagine a different future. As a result of this research, a model for partnerships and for participation is proposed. The researcher identified a range of modes of participation in the creative space and these were subsequently characterized as a continuum from Peripheral to Marginal to Embodied to Active Participation. ii DECLARATION This is to certify that: (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Rosemary Blight iii iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are a number of people I would like to thank for their continual support and interest in this project. Without these women this project would not have happened: Ms Dawn Cardona, Ms Kathleen Martin, Ms Evelyn Myatt, Ms Mina Rotumah, Ms Jarrah McGregor, Ms Tammy Andersen. I thank all the young people for sharing their ideas and participating in this study. Trinity College and Nungalinya College for making this project possible. Dr Murray Seiffert for thinking of me for the initial project. I thank my supervisors Associate Professor Kate Donelan and Dr Christine Sinclair for their guidance and inspiration; their dedication and understanding has been exceptional. Dr Brenda Holt, Professor Andrew McGowan and Mr. Campbell Bairstow for their encouragement throughout this study. Luke, Isabel and Caitlin for their patience, love and encouragement. Dad, Betty, Rob, Alex and Larree for their love and interest and the family members I have hardly seen. Jill, Scotty, Kati, Paula and Richard for their ongoing friendship. Jack, Stephan and my Drama colleagues in Foundation Studies. Andrew whose love, support and interest has never faltered. v vi CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE : LOOKING ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE................................. 13 PROLOGUE...............................................................................................13 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................13 The Youth Program at Nungalinya College .................................................14 The Partners and Young People ................................................................15 The Projects ..........................................................................................17 Workshops at Nungalinya College 2006 – 2008 ..........................................18 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ....................................................................19 Intercultural Communication through Drama and Theatre............................19 Are the Benefits of Applied Theatre Transferable to Indigenous Youth? ..........21 Drama, Theatre Techniques and Applied Theatre ........................................22 Youth and Marginalized Youth ..................................................................23 Methodological Approach.........................................................................23 Changed Research Question ....................................................................24 ESTABLISHING A PARTNERSHIP .................................................................24 Beginning the Partnership with Nungalinya College .....................................24 Critical Phase of the Relationship between both Colleges .............................26 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY: INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN DISADVANTAGE ............28 Language Protocols ................................................................................28 Impact of Colonisation ............................................................................29 Indicators of Educational, Health, Economic and Social Disadvantage ............31 A Snapshot of the “Gap” between Australians ............................................32 1 Incarceration.........................................................................................33 Over-representation in Criminal Justice System..........................................33 Close the Gap........................................................................................34 Political Context .....................................................................................34 AN OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS ...................................................................36 INTRODUCING THE PARTICIPANTS .............................................................37 Staff: ...................................................................................................38 The Young People: .................................................................................39 EPILOGUE................................................................................................41 CHAPTER TWO : LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 42 MARGINALIZED YOUTH .............................................................................42 Concepts of ‘Youth’ ................................................................................42 The Arts and Youth 'at Risk'.....................................................................44 APPLIED THEATRE AND DRAMA PROCESSES.................................................45 Issues around a Definition.......................................................................45 A Definition ...........................................................................................47 Relationships between Practitioners and Participants...................................48 The Role of the Practitioner .....................................................................48 Examples of Practice and Processes Described as Applied Theatre.................49 Problems with Applied Theatre Practices....................................................54 The Arts and 'Youth At Risk’ and Applied Theatre and Drama Processes .........55 DRAMA AND THEATRE PRACTICE IN AN INTERCULTURAL CONTEXT .................60 Creating the ‘Third Space’ and Cultural Integration .....................................61 2 WORKING IN INDIGENOUS SPACES AND COMMUNITIES ................................63 Indigenous Australian Perspectives on Education ........................................64 Relatedness: Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being, Ways of Doing .....................66 Storytelling, Drama and Performance in Aboriginal Australian Culture ...........68 Relatedness, Education and Indigenous Australian Perspectives....................70