Mitch Kovacs
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Arts Humanities
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Jan 9, 2024
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Uploaded by ColonelGoldfinchPerson1016
Mitch Kovacs
Professor Townson
RSCH 101
May 11, 2023
From Data to Drama - the construction of an Ethnographic Performance
In the article “From data to Drama - the construction of an Ethnographic Performance”
by Richard Sallis, the author takes us through his experience of trying to write a dramatic script
for an all boys private school. He provides all the ways he used to write the script and goes
through all the challenges and insights of this study that he is conducting. In this article he also
tries to dive deeper and broaden his understand of the ethnodrama while also finding out if an
ethnodrama was a good presentational form to share data about drama to drama educators and
their students. This essay will be explain and going through the authors thought process and his
research and findings to help the reader have a better understanding of an ethnodrama and how a
dramatic script is written.
The author wants us to follow him through his journey as he creates a dramatic script as
he watches over an all boys school. The author states that “I had previously taught Drama in a
similar context and I was curious to see if the gendered performance …
I observed in my classes
was symptomatic of a broader phenomenon.” (Sallis) He wanted to do this study because he
wanted to see if the boys in the all boys school would have acted differently and caused his
drama that he saw in his classes to be “wrong”. He immersed himself in the group of boys,
learning everything about them firsthand and helping him construct his ethnodrama from his
field notes. He even let the boys have an involvement in the drama, this allowed for their active
participation and helped them to be able to see their own experiences from another point of view.
The author goes through all of the challenges, including trying to balance sharing his experiences
with them and also hiding their identities from the public. This was a problem he had not thought
of before and found hard to address. Overall the author expressed that ethnographic performance
can be a dynamic way to share research as it has more passion and imagination helping everyone
to better enjoy what they are seeing.
Sallis describes his purpose as wanting to “... analyse and evaluate the methods I
employed to write a dramatic script based on an educational ethnography which focused on the
drama program in an all-boys' private school in suburban Melbourne.” (Sallis) He lets it be
known that by using a dramatic script to share his research findings he was able to capture more
passion and emotion in the script than any other regular research article. At first he wanted to see
if his drama programs' gendered performances, which was not at an all boys school, were
different from the drama program in this all boys school. As soon as he had gotten there he had
noticed the difference in the four teachers that were there. After discussing with the teachers they
all decided that writing an ethnodrama was the best way to convey ideas about drama with all of
them and their students. The author wanted to see how data from an educational ethnography
could be constructed into an ethnographic performance.
The specific arts based research method that was used was the ethnodrama. This method
involves writing and staging and greatly helped the author to better portray his research and help
the students and teachers see their own experiences. Towards the end of the study, the teachers
underwent a reflective practice due to the authors presence as an ethnographer and
ethnodramatist. One of the teachers had said that “tthe ethnodrama opened up questions for the
Drama department that led it to evaluate its Drama program in relation to the academic and
social development of the boys in their classes.” He then went on to explain how all the teachers
tend to take what the students and what themselves do for granted and looking at the ethnodrama
helped them to notice all of the little things they overlooked. This ethnodrama helped them to
greatly appreciate the study and gain new insight on their own experiences they were able to look
back on. The author then describes how one of the teachers, Helen, was impacted the most out of
everyone. She said that the ethnodrama “brought it home to her” (Sallis) and she noticed that her
teaching ways were greatly affected by the male dominance in the classroom. This prompted her
to change her teaching ways, which also benefited the students too.
While the author did not specify any limitations that they encountered, they did go
through a few challenges including discussions of how to keep the anonymity of everyone and
the aesthetic qualities of the ethnodrama. He had to re-negotiate with the participants and with
himself about the issues of anonymity. The author also explains the hardships of trying to
balance being both an artist and a researcher, having to balance ethical considerations, research
purposes, and artistic demands. He counters by saying that through all of this, he was rewarded
with an enlightening experience and a deeper understanding of the ethnodramatic process.
This article uses qualitative research instead of quantitative research like the sciences
article uses. Also another difference is the subject matter of the essays. This essay goes over the
use of an ethnodrama to portray research findings while the other essays describe a debate
between theologians and a study about health. The last difference is the disciplinary context of
the essays. While this essay draws from theories of storytelling and dramatic representation, the
sciences essay describes theories and information related to physical activity and health-related
outcomes.
Changing this article from a creative arts research method to a humanities research design
would need to include some specific things. Adapting to a humanities research design would
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mean incorporating textual analysis, engaging with critical theory, and conducting interview or
focus groups instead of using the ethnodrama that the author originally used to portray his
research. By substituting the ethnodrama with a textual analysis, you have the possibility of
having a deeper context and theoretical ground for themes depicted in the ethnodrama. By
engaging with critical theory you can inform the interpretation and representation of the research
in the ethnodrama. Some examples include cultural studies, and the feminist theory. The last
adaptation would be conducting interview or focus groups. Not necessarily interviews but
moreso just sitting down one on one with the students and teachers and getting the information
out of them that way would be a way you could adapt it to a humanities design. All of these ways
are ways that you could adapt to a humanities design, which could help you to have a deeper
context of the research that you are delving in.
Works Cited
Zhang, T., Xiang, P., Gu, X., & Rose, M. (2016). College Students' Physical Activity and
Health-Related Quality of Life: An Achievement Goal Perspective.
Research Quarterly
for Exercise and Sport, 87
(2), 182-190.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2016.1159279
Hark, K. (2018). Research Across the Disciplines: An Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Sallis, R. (2007). From Data to Drama - the Construction of an Ethnographic Performance. NJ:
Drama Australia Journal, 31(2), 7–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2007.11649514
Bird, M. F. (2011). What is there between Minneapolis and St. Andrews?: a third way in the
Piper-Wright debate. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 54(2), 299–309.