Between word, image and movement : performative critiques of colonial ethnography

This paper is concerned with contemporary artistic engagements with colonialism, particularly ethnography. It offers an analysis of two performances, The Truth Commission (Action Zoo Humain) and Between Words and Images (Ernestine White and Toni Stuart), that challenge the hegemonic processes through which nations define themselves. By creating an aesthetic that actively involves spectators and mobilizes a repertoire of embodied performance forms (dance, drumming, song, poetry) in relation to archives (documents, art, artefacts), both productions destabilize fixed narratives of the past, and assess the impact these narratives still have on present value systems and future policy