Resistance Through Acting : Ambivalent Practices of the No Border Musical
(2019) In Lund Dissertations in Social Work- Abstract
- In a context of deportability and bordering practices, this thesis asks questions regarding possibilities and limitations of resistance through community theatre. It sets out from a participatory ethnographic exploration of the working process and performance of the No Border Musical.
The No Border Musical was created in 2011–2013 in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden. It was initiated by people linked to the local migrant rights movement in the city. About half the participants had applied for asylum in Sweden as unaccompanied minors. When faced with an expulsion order, they had come into contact with the local migrant rights movement and, at a later stage, the musical initiative. A majority of the rest of the ensemble was... (More) - In a context of deportability and bordering practices, this thesis asks questions regarding possibilities and limitations of resistance through community theatre. It sets out from a participatory ethnographic exploration of the working process and performance of the No Border Musical.
The No Border Musical was created in 2011–2013 in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden. It was initiated by people linked to the local migrant rights movement in the city. About half the participants had applied for asylum in Sweden as unaccompanied minors. When faced with an expulsion order, they had come into contact with the local migrant rights movement and, at a later stage, the musical initiative. A majority of the rest of the ensemble was politically involved in changing the overall system of migration control and in giving support to undocumented individuals. The approximately two-year period of working and performing together was permeated by consequences and experiences of borders, deportability, asylum processes, while also aiming to practice and stage visions of a world where a passport would not determine one’s status in the world.
Through a participatory ethnographic study, the contingency and ambivalence of resistance through community theatre in a context marked by bordering practices and deportability is analysed. Some of the actors performed publicly on stage, despite residing as undocumented and an everyday life permeated by fear of being detected by the police and subsequently deported from Sweden. Simultaneously, although aiming to contest borders, the border also cut through the musical group, not least in relation to differences in regard to risks inherent in participating in and performing with the musical. Precarious living conditions due to deportability had consequences in terms of the conditions for participating in the musical.
The tension between wanting to dismantle categorisations put into force by the state and international institutions such as the EU, but also experiencing a need to adjust to the consequences of these (for example, practices to avoid police controls) was present in both the working process and visible in the performance of the musical. Categorisations, such as citizen/non-citizen, white/non-white, adult/youngster and documented/undocumented were simultaneously reproduced and contested.
The musical performance staged consequences and experiences of migration control, while also performing possibilities of a world without borders. The staging of migration control had a realist strand to it and could be understood as feeding into narratives of deservingness as well as reproducing a victimisation of refugeeness. At the same time, privileges of mobility were made visible and criticised in the performance, and undocumented characters displayed rebellious resistance towards the system of migration control.
By combining an in-depth ethnographic exploration of the working process with an analysis of the performance as well as the experiences of performing together, this thesis argues that these processes (of performing and working together) may be understood as ambivalent commoning. It is ambivalent since the very processes of what is referred to as commoning were simultaneously intersected by bordering practices as well as by a distribution of roles and power stemming from different positions in terms of deportability. The thesis points to the importance of relationship-building and continuity in this context and conceptualises these as politics of translation. This not only encapsulates translating between different languages but also between different experiences and positions in regard to the subjects addressed, in this case deportability, asylum processes and borders. The analysis of the No Border Musical sharply exposes the inherent ambivalences and incompleteness of acting in an unjust world, whilst also hoping to inspire further engagement and resistance. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- I ett Europa där gränskontroller intensifieras och deportationer ökar ställer denna avhandling frågor om möjligheter till motstånd och aktivism genom teater. Den tar sin utgångspunkt i en deltagande etnografisk undersökning av No Border Musical.
No Border Musical skapades och sattes upp i Malmö under 2011–2013. Initiativet togs av personer kopplade till den lokala flyktingrättsrörelsen. Ungefär hälften av deltagarna hade sökt asyl i Sverige som ensamkommande flyktingbarn men fått beslut om utvisning. Resten av deltagarna var politiskt engagerade för en mer human och solidarisk flyktingpolitik och arbetade med att stötta papperslösa personer. Konsekvenser och erfarenheter av gränser, asylprocesser och ständigt hot om utvisning... (More) - I ett Europa där gränskontroller intensifieras och deportationer ökar ställer denna avhandling frågor om möjligheter till motstånd och aktivism genom teater. Den tar sin utgångspunkt i en deltagande etnografisk undersökning av No Border Musical.
No Border Musical skapades och sattes upp i Malmö under 2011–2013. Initiativet togs av personer kopplade till den lokala flyktingrättsrörelsen. Ungefär hälften av deltagarna hade sökt asyl i Sverige som ensamkommande flyktingbarn men fått beslut om utvisning. Resten av deltagarna var politiskt engagerade för en mer human och solidarisk flyktingpolitik och arbetade med att stötta papperslösa personer. Konsekvenser och erfarenheter av gränser, asylprocesser och ständigt hot om utvisning genomsyrade det dagliga livet för deltagarna i musikalen, och därmed också den ungefär två år långa arbetsprocessen. Musikalens ambition var att praktisera och iscensätta visioner om en annan värld i vilken pass eller nationalitet inte spelar någon roll. Med sitt syfte att protestera mot orättvisor, sin starka förankring i Asylgruppen i Malmö samt en ensemble bestående av icke-professionella skådespelare kan No Border Musical beskrivas som en community teater.
Eftersom delar av ensemblen levde under hot om utvisning villkorades musikalens arbete av det ständigt närvarande hotet om att när som helst avslöjas som papperslös och därmed riskera att deporteras. Detta ställdes på sin spets i musikalen då det handlade om att ta plats på scen i offentlighetens ljus. Det praktiska teaterarbetet karaktäriserades vidare av ambivalenser i form av spänningar och motstridigheter som utspelade sig i relationerna mellan deltagarna, mellan musikalens arbetsprocess och vision och statens migrationskontroll, samt som fanns inneboende i själva arbetet med att gestalta migrationsrelaterade erfarenheter på scen. Kategorier som medborgare/icke-medborgare, vit/icke-vit och vuxen/ungdom reproducerades och utmanades på samma gång.
Musikalen iscensatte konsekvenser och erfarenheter av migrationskontroll, samtidigt som föreställningen också åskådliggjorde möjligheter om en värld utan gränser. Att gestalta erfarenheter av migrationskontroll på scen innebar risk att förstärka bilden av flyktingar som offer samt föreställningen om uppehållstillstånd som något som bör förtjänas. Samtidigt ifrågasattes varför mobilitet är ett privilegium för enbart vissa och papperslösa karaktärer gestaltade rebelliskt motstånd mot migrationskontroll på scen.
I avhandlingen analyseras de vardagliga praktikerna; att repetera, organisera, mötas samt uppträda tillsammans som ambivalent commoning; ett ”gemenskapande” med ambivalenser. Commoning var inte enbart kopplat till musikalen utan omfattade också sociala aktiviteter utanför själva repetitionerna. Avhandlingen pekar på vikten av kontinuitet och relationsbyggande i en community teater som No Border Musical och begreppsliggör sådant arbete som översättningspolitik (politics of translation). Begreppet omfattar inte endast översättningen mellan olika språk, utan också mellan olika erfarenheter och positioner i relation till de ämnen som adresseras, i detta fall utvisningsbarhet, asylprocesser och gränser. Analysen av No Border Musical blottlägger en rad motsättningar, ambivalenser, men också möjligheter, i aktivism genom community teater och förhoppningen är att avhandlingen inspirerar till fortsatt engagemang och motstånd. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2c1a374b-227a-4413-8a7d-4a6da1e7c389
- author
- Söderman, Emma LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Anderson, Bridget, University of Bristol
- organization
- alternative title
- Motstånd genom teater : Ambivalenta praktiker i <i>No Border Musical </i>
- publishing date
- 2019-08-26
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- deportability, commoning, community theatre, activism, irregular migration
- in
- Lund Dissertations in Social Work
- issue
- 56
- pages
- 245 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Socialhögskolan, room SH 128, Allhelgona kyrkogata 8, Lund
- defense date
- 2019-09-20 10:00:00
- ISSN
- 1650-3872
- ISBN
- 978-91-89604-63-6
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2c1a374b-227a-4413-8a7d-4a6da1e7c389
- date added to LUP
- 2019-08-26 14:01:37
- date last changed
- 2021-12-16 13:34:48
@phdthesis{2c1a374b-227a-4413-8a7d-4a6da1e7c389,
abstract = {{In a context of deportability and bordering practices, this thesis asks questions regarding possibilities and limitations of resistance through community theatre. It sets out from a participatory ethnographic exploration of the working process and performance of the No Border Musical. <br/>The No Border Musical was created in 2011–2013 in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden. It was initiated by people linked to the local migrant rights movement in the city. About half the participants had applied for asylum in Sweden as unaccompanied minors. When faced with an expulsion order, they had come into contact with the local migrant rights movement and, at a later stage, the musical initiative. A majority of the rest of the ensemble was politically involved in changing the overall system of migration control and in giving support to undocumented individuals. The approximately two-year period of working and performing together was permeated by consequences and experiences of borders, deportability, asylum processes, while also aiming to practice and stage visions of a world where a passport would not determine one’s status in the world.<br/>Through a participatory ethnographic study, the contingency and ambivalence of resistance through community theatre in a context marked by bordering practices and deportability is analysed. Some of the actors performed publicly on stage, despite residing as undocumented and an everyday life permeated by fear of being detected by the police and subsequently deported from Sweden. Simultaneously, although aiming to contest borders, the border also cut through the musical group, not least in relation to differences in regard to risks inherent in participating in and performing with the musical. Precarious living conditions due to deportability had consequences in terms of the conditions for participating in the musical. <br/>The tension between wanting to dismantle categorisations put into force by the state and international institutions such as the EU, but also experiencing a need to adjust to the consequences of these (for example, practices to avoid police controls) was present in both the working process and visible in the performance of the musical. Categorisations, such as citizen/non-citizen, white/non-white, adult/youngster and documented/undocumented were simultaneously reproduced and contested. <br/>The musical performance staged consequences and experiences of migration control, while also performing possibilities of a world without borders. The staging of migration control had a realist strand to it and could be understood as feeding into narratives of deservingness as well as reproducing a victimisation of refugeeness. At the same time, privileges of mobility were made visible and criticised in the performance, and undocumented characters displayed rebellious resistance towards the system of migration control. <br/>By combining an in-depth ethnographic exploration of the working process with an analysis of the performance as well as the experiences of performing together, this thesis argues that these processes (of performing and working together) may be understood as ambivalent commoning. It is ambivalent since the very processes of what is referred to as commoning were simultaneously intersected by bordering practices as well as by a distribution of roles and power stemming from different positions in terms of deportability. The thesis points to the importance of relationship-building and continuity in this context and conceptualises these as politics of translation. This not only encapsulates translating between different languages but also between different experiences and positions in regard to the subjects addressed, in this case deportability, asylum processes and borders. The analysis of the No Border Musical sharply exposes the inherent ambivalences and incompleteness of acting in an unjust world, whilst also hoping to inspire further engagement and resistance.}},
author = {{Söderman, Emma}},
isbn = {{978-91-89604-63-6}},
issn = {{1650-3872}},
keywords = {{deportability; commoning; community theatre; activism; irregular migration}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
number = {{56}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Dissertations in Social Work}},
title = {{Resistance Through Acting : Ambivalent Practices of the <i>No Border Musical</i>}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/68792910/Emma_S_derman_Thesis_Resistance_through_Acting.pdf}},
year = {{2019}},
}