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Oral History and Performance in the Aftermath of Organized Violence: An Epistemological Contribution

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Oral History and Performance in the Aftermath of Organized Violence: An Epistemological Contribution

Ndejuru, Lisa (2020) Oral History and Performance in the Aftermath of Organized Violence: An Epistemological Contribution. PhD thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

Oral History and Performance in the Aftermath of Organized Violence:
An Epistemological Contribution.
Lisa Ndejuru, Ph.D
Concordia University, 2020

Can transdisciplinary, relational research-creation strategies open pathways to wellness,
emancipation, and finding one’s voice in a post-colonial context of genocide, war, organized
violence, and exile?

What are some affordances of performative inquiry, writing as inquiry, and other arts-based pedagogies and practices when applied to oral histories, memory work and sense-making?

Can community dialogue, creative storytelling, deep listening help move toward healing in the aftermath of organized violence and traumatic loss, and exile?

Can improvisational playback theatre with difficult stories appease the silences, and help defeat intergenerational transmission of the traumas of persecution and genocide and war.

As a child and grandchild of survivors of early anti-Tutsi injustices in Rwanda, as a wife and mother, I seek non-professionalized and non-medicalized solutions––accessible metaphors, tools and techniques––for use within my own afrodiasporic community setting, and beyond, as a new generation works through questions of memory, identity, change and transformation.

My learnings emerge out of a very personal perspective, reflecting more than 20 years of experience as an activist and organizer within the Rwandan diaspora in Canada, my work as a licensed mental health professional focused on the wellness of racialized minorities, my creative collaborations as a community artist, and the community-based research I have undertaken as a volunteer co-applicant of the 7-year SSHRC-funded CURA project Life Stories of Montrealers displaced by genocide, war and other human rights abuses, based at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University.

Divisions:Concordia University > School of Graduate Studies > Individualized Program
Item Type:Thesis (PhD)
Authors:Ndejuru, Lisa
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:Ph. D.
Program:Individualized Program
Date:July 2020
Thesis Supervisor(s):High, Steven and Reilly, Rosemary and Linds, Warren
Keywords:memory trauma organized violence decolonization refugees diaspora identities values community intergenerational arts-based storytelling oral history dialogue performance relational art research-creation public pedagogies wellbeing
ID Code:987762
Deposited By: LISA NDEJURU
Deposited On:29 Jun 2021 20:44
Last Modified:29 Jun 2021 20:44

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