Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice
Contributor Features
"Some scholars in the social sciences may employ the term “performance” in casual ways that irk the sensibilities of those deeply involved in the culture of theatre, for mounting a theatrical production, regardless of its magnitude, is hard work. Nevertheless, theatre is one of the artistic media through which fictionalized and non-fictionalized social life—the human condition—can be portrayed symbolically and aesthetically for spectator engagement and reflection."
"The art of writing for the stage is similar to, yet different from, creating a dramatic narrative for qualitative reports, because ethnotheatre employs the media and conventions of theatrical production. A researcher’s criteria for excellent ethnography in article or book formats don’t always harmonize with an artist’s criteria for excellent theatre. This may be difficult for some to accept but, to me, theatre’s primary goal is neither to educate nor to enlighten. Theatre’s primary goal is to entertain—to entertain ideas as it entertains its spectators. With ethnographic performance, then, comes the responsibility to create an entertainingly informative experience for an audience, one that is aesthetically sound, intellectually rich, and emotionally evocative. Ethnotheatre reveals a living culture through its character-participants and, if successful, the audience learns about their world and what it’s like to live in it."
Johnny Saldana
quotes from: Ethnodrama: an Anthology of Reality Theatre, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2005.
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Johnny Saldaña is a Professor of Theatre in the School of Theatre and Film at Arizona State University where he has taught since 1981. He is the author of Longitudinal Qualitative Research: Analyzing Change Through Time (AltaMira Press, 2003), a research methods book and recipient of the 2004 Outstanding Book Award from the National Communication Association’s Ethnography Division; Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre (AltaMira Press, 2005), and The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (Sage Publications, 2009), a handbook on qualitative data analysis. His forthcoming textbook, Understanding Qualitative Research: The Fundamentals, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2011.
Johnny Saldana is a contributor to the recently released book, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change", eds. Cheryl McLean, Robert Kelly, Detselig Temeron Press. ("Ethnodramas about Health and Illness, staging Human Vulnerability, Fragility and resiliency" pg. 167-180) ) He is also an Advisory Board member for IJCAIP, The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice
http://www.ijcaip.com
