Beyond “an Aesthetic of Objectivity”: Performance Ethnography, Performance Texts, and Theatricality

Abstract

This article is about the ways in which a dominant “aesthetic of objectivity” (Denzin, 2003, p. 73) pervades much contemporary performance ethnography and scholarly performance text, subverting many scholars’ stated desires to use aesthetic forms to critique hegemonic discourses and democratize scholarship. First, I will define the dominant “aesthetic of objectivity” as it applies to performance ethnography and performance texts and trace its origins to mainstream documentary theatre performances. I will then examine how these conventions play out in an example of an explicitly scholarly performance project, and argue the significance of liveness in the scholarly performance act. Finally, I will offer a few examples of arts-based research performance projects operating in alternate aesthetic paradigms rupturing the “aesthetic of objectivity” and offer recommendations and further questions for arts-based researchers and scholars interested in experimenting with performance forms.