A Campus Counter Tour: Performing institutional narratives

Abstract

Abstract This article traces the work of a cross-listed Theatre and Black Studies performance course at a US university that had recently experienced campus protests concerning anti-black racism. The course culminated in an admissions-style walking tour that critically analysed the university environment by juxtaposing dominant institutional narratives with counter accounts performed by a multi-ethnic ensemble of students. The article begins by contextualizing the university's history of anti-black racism and then describes the curriculum created for the class and the broader Campus Counter Tour performance. To conclude, it discusses the assets embedded in the Counter Tour project (accessibility, coalition building, and participation in a movement), which could be valuable for applied theatre practitioners interested in using walking tours to address institutional narratives bound up in racism or colonialism more broadly.