Title: ‘We with Them and Them with Us’: Diverse Cultural Performances
Abstract: This final chapter will examine cultural expressions made by refugees themselves and is divided into three parts, in which I'll examine refugee arts festivals, refugee artists (particularly solo performers) and participatory theatre projects with refugees. Grouping diverse sets of practices in this way draws attention to questions of agency and control on the part of refugees. The examples show how the arts, especially performing arts, hold the potential to challenge preconceptions and validate refugee experience, some even pointing to a more hopeful and optimistic future for refugees and 'host' communities. Equally, they also demonstrate that the 'problem' of the refugee's voice is 'a deeply political problem, and one that cuts to the core of who counts as an authentic political subject' (Nyers, 2006: 124). However, bearing in mind the ethics around gift giving and hospitality discussed previously, these activities also show how'giving voice' to refugees is not just a practical problem and not only a problem of rectifying unequal power relations. It is part of a deeply ethical practice and must be considered on this level as well.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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