Indigenous performance as communication for social change : Lighting the fire for social change

Abstract

What can the history of communication theory tell us about the healing potential of the performing arts? Public funding for the arts is at a great risk in BC. With many competing

government priorities, funding for the arts might not seem that important. But what if the performing arts become a method of communicating social change for Indigenous and settler communities?  This paper explores the relationship between psychoanalytical theories in communication and performance, suggesting that the two have more in common than we think. Historically, the birth of cultural studies in communication is congruent with the beginning of performance art. Both genres of social relating were influenced by the political and social contexts of their time. What this paper aims to achieve is an understanding of how Indigenous performance can become a method of communicating social change. Rather than a policy, this paper suggests that Indigenous performance can move settler communities towards reconciliation, a reconciliation that is communicated by Indigenous people themselves. 

Keywords: Social change, performing arts, transformation, Indigenous community, cultural studies.