Relational Perspectives on Change: The Theory, Stories, and Practice of Postmarginality

Abstract:Postmarginal Edmonton explored the intersections of political multilogues among various theatre communities (Indigenous, Black, racialized, d/Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, Disabled, and neurodiverse). The retreats use an experiential learning pedagogy of storytelling, discussion, and physical practice to tease out perspectives of créolisation that can respond to the paradoxes and pitfalls of contemporary identity politics without removing the awareness of uneven power relationships of coloniality. Underpinning this poetical-philosophical perspective is an approach of generative communication that is inspired by and extends the concept of 'ethical relationality.'After this theoretical framing, Dr. Ndejuru reflects on the qualities the organizers seek, look for, or feel are important in the creation of the retreat. What guides the choices we make as we prepare the conditions for postmarginal work? How do we value the process that then takes place? In our discussion, we pay particular attention to the retreat's use of storytelling and embodied workshops. The storytellers, the participants, and the lenses are all carefully considered, chosen, or vetted in relation to the question guiding our event.Dr. Babayants rounds up our offering with a report on and responses to Le besoin d'être mal-armé: Multilingual Dramaturgy, a workshop on the possibilities of stage multilingualism and multilingual dramaturgy. The workshop invites participants to explore working in languages they speak fluently, languages they are learning, and those they have never had any exposure to. It also challenges the notions of mandatory translation into official languages, that is, the languages of power. The participants are invited to consider how practising multilingualism during collective creation can lead to new dramaturgical forms as well as to queering dominant monolingual frameworks that tend to prioritize colonizer languages.