Chapter 4: Creating Accessible, Pedagogical Storytelling Performances as Research Take 1
Abstract
This critical autoethnography follows the creation of a performance ethnographic film as applied-learning pedagogy in an undergraduate Communication Studies Department. During their collaboration a video Production and a Performance Studies professor grapple with the competing expectations of film critics, Performance Studies scholars, and undergraduate student performers in an effort to create peer-reviewed artistic research that is accessible to nonacademic audiences. The film, (that features narrative excerpts from a project focused on disability, identity, and U.S. culture), highlights the complications of insider versus outsider research, the pervasiveness of disability stigma, and the ethics of embodying Others’ stories in critical storytelling performance. The chapter concludes with evidence of the power of personal narrative performance to pursue hyper-embodiment, empathetic connection and social justice.