An Ethnographic Performance for Professional Learning

Abstract

Across a 12-month period, in the role of performance ethnographer, I constructed a piece of research-based theatre (Beck, Belliveua, Lea & Wager, 2011) that was performed at the 2011 LH Martin "Women in Research Leadership" course. The 45-minute ethnographic performance was incorporated into a three-hour workshop with accompanying drama activities designed to stimulate an investigation of the themes, issues and topics raised by the performance. The audience of women aspiring to leadership positions in their research careers reported that the performance was a highly effective professional learning experience, they described the performance and workshop as a layered, embodied, symbolic, and e..