“Unconfinable knowledge” : curating, the curatorial and decolonization in the performing arts
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Educational Studies (EDST), Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Atkinson, Wendy
issued: 2023-12-21T22:39:47Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Programmers in the performing arts, particularly settler programmers, can use the concepts of curating and the curatorial as mechanisms to take steps towards decolonization, beyond inclusion and representation and particularly beyond the performance on stage. In this thesis I have taken a theoretical approach to argue that the concepts of curating and the curatorial can be used by performing arts programmers to support activities aimed at decolonization. I discuss three cases of university programmers booking Indigenous artists that serve as examples to support and illustrate my claims about the usefulness of the concept of curating. First, I outline how the concept of curating has been theorized in the visual arts literature and examine the role of curating to further social justice and decolonization in the visual arts. Second, using examples from the literature, my professional experience as a performing arts programmer and two examples of performances booked by programmers in university venues, I examine how social justice and decolonization goals have been taken up in the performing arts. I also review how performing arts scholars have written about the benefits and drawbacks of using the concept of curating in the performing arts. My study considers the limitations of programming by itself to further decolonization goals and I outline how the concepts of curating, and even more so the concept of the curatorial, offer programmers practical and theoretical direction to address decolonization in their practice. In the final chapter I explore the educative potential of the concept of the curatorial, in particular as characterized by Rogoff as an event of knowledge, and how the educational theories of Dewey, Rancière and Biesta connect with ideas of the curatorial. I argue that the concept of the curatorial offers opportunities for knowledge production and action in the pursuit of decolonization in the performing arts and that a curatorial approach opens up opportu…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/87000
note: “UNCONFINABLE KNOWLEDGE”: CURATING, THE CURATORIAL AND DECOLONIZATION IN THE PERFORMING ARTS by Wendy Atkinson B.A., The University of Victoria, 1987 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Educational Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December, 2023 © Wendy Atkinson, 2023 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: “Unconfinable Knowledge”: Curating, the Curatorial and Decolonization in the Performing Arts submitted by W Wendy Atkinson in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Educational Studies Examining Committee: Dr. Claudia Ruitenberg, Professor, Educational Studies, UBC Supervisor Dr. Olivia Michiko Gagnon, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre and Film, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Erin Silver, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. George Belliveau, Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Programmers in the performing arts, particularly settler programmers, can use the concepts of curating and the curatorial as mechanisms to take steps towards decolonization, beyond inclusion and representation and particularly beyond the performance on stage. In this thesis I have taken a theoretical approach to argue that the concepts of curating and the curatorial can be used by performing arts programmers to support activities aimed at decolonization. I discuss three cases of university programmers booking Indigenous artists that serve as examples to support and illustrate my claims about the usefulness of the concept of curating. First, I outline how the concept of curating has been theorized in the visual arts literature and examine the role of curating to…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0438332
language: eng
degree discipline: Educational Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Ruitenberg, Claudia
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87000