Theater and playwriting can foster dialogue and construct “a bridge of communication” between disconnected communities, argued William S Yellow Robe, professor of English at the University of Maine and a member of the Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation, in a lecture Thursday night.
In his talk, which drew a small group of students and faculty members in Smith-Buonanno Hall 106, Yellow Robe described his experience as a native playwright working to develop theatrical programs across the country.
Yellow Robe touched upon the issues of misrepresentation and lack of awareness of native culture and history in his lecture, which featured readings from his first play “Sneaky” as well as from essays he called “spam rants.”
Naming the “rants” — which highlight the mistreatment of American Indians — after the canned processed meat that was historically rationed to Native peoples underscores the oppression they faced over the years, Yellow Robe said. Outlining a narrative of oppression, he described misconceptions of native reality that at times implied “native people aren’t human.”
This talk was the first in a three-day series called “Indigenous Performance in the Americas: Native American Tribal Theatre.” Sponsored by the donors to the Barbara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program, the conference will feature presentations from nine scholars and practitioners of indigenous performance working in theater, poetry, music, film and politics.
Through this conference, coordinators Assistant Professor of Anthropology Paja Faudree and Assistant Professor of Music Joshua Tucker hope to create a space for conversation among those interested in the expression of race, ethnicity and culture through performance, Faudree said.
This is the first event of its kind to take place at Brown, Faudree said. She added that while smaller conferences featuring scholars of indigenous performances have been held on campus in the past, this one “casts the net broadly,” including not only scholars, but also performers and practitioners working across the Americas.
The conference was planned so that each participant could “bring something distinct and different to the conversation,” Faudree said, adding that the conference is divided into panels to allow participants to reflect on both the similarities between various American Indians’ outlooks and the differences based on geographic and national backgrounds.
“The idea is to bring together issues that don’t often get talked about in the same forum,” Turner said.
Participants emphasized the importance of art forms in portraying such issues and conflicts.
Theater, Yellow Robe said, is a “peaceful means to bring about change for native people that doesn’t involve bloodshed.”
Murielle Borst-Tarrant, another conference participant, said she uses theater and storytelling as a means of “fighting for indigenous culture rights” by weaving together art, politics and history.
Faudree said she hopes the conference will encourage students to pay attention to issues of “expressive culture,” which are too often dismissed as unimportant. “I hope this is part of an ongoing conversation to make this more visible at Brown.”
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