The Dramatic Arts and Cultural Studies: Educating against the Grain (Critical Education Practice) [Hardcover]

Kathleen S. Berry (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0815309317 | ISBN-13: 978-0815309314 | Publication Date: January 1, 2000 | Edition: 1

This book presents a wide range of contemporary theories borrowed from Cultural Studies augmented with practical implications that support dramatic artists in their struggle to create possible multiple realities for a postmodern future. Teachers, directors, writers, students, and many others involved in the dramatic arts will benefit from the discussions of Cultural Studies and the connections to the Dramatic Arts. The first chapters mix theory and practice while the last chapter provides questioning strategies and conventions that can be used in actual sessions to deconstruct scripted or improvised dramatic texts. This is a useful introductory text for artists, directors, teachers, students, and others involved in the Dramatic Arts who would like to energize their work through contemporary theories and practices of Cultural Studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In her book, Kathy Berry has begun to rethink the role of dramatic arts and its place in the curriculum. She begins with samples of authentic classroom experiences, and interweaves the theory past and present that now drives drama educators into moving beyond what has been done to a postmodern context of what could be done. Teachers and teachers-to-be who are concerned with educational change through the arts will be strengthened by the support in theory and practice the author offers in this excellent resource.
–Professor David Booth, OISE, University of Toronto

About the Author

Kathleen S. Berry is a Professor of Education in Cultural Studies, Drama and Literacy at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. Her work is centered on educational worlds and the impact of cultural studies and criticism on theories and practices in pedagogy, drama, and multi-literacies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815309317
• ISBN-13: 978-0815309314
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,186,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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2.0 out of 5 stars Everything - A lot of lists with questions marks, February 10, 2011

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David Ross - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dramatic Arts and Cultural Studies: Educating against the Grain (Critical Education Practice) (Hardcover)

I can't help wonder whether my difficulty with this book lies in my familiarity with the material or whether it is simply tedious. If you have not had any (and I think I do mean any) experience with Cultural Studies, then this book might raise your awareness of the degree to which all notions of authority are being questioned and probed for the ways they might implicate power (more specifically, power imbalances). I was attracted to this text because of my interest in Process Drama (a more recent formulation of Dorothy Heathcote's Mantle of the Expert) and drawn by Heathcote's introduction. Regrettably, I did not read the introduction online, because it offers praise, however graciously and generously, that indicates Heathcote's lack of deep sympathy with the text. Understandably. Berry's opening chapter is comprised of paragraph upon paragraph of lists - I can't bring myself to reproduce them - of things in crisis. And then there are small sections of things in crisis. And at the end of the book questions to ask to have learners reflect on these things in crisis.

All of this reflection is good, but the questions, while comprehensive in many regards, lack subtlety. In addition, they are unmoored from any context. I will present one here:
33 (out of 116). Is a text a look at power? Exclusions? Values? Representations? Values (yes, twice)? Who controls? Gender/class/age constructions?

An OK series of questions to ask of a text - but basic and bland for my tastes, especially outside of a given text.
Perhaps I am taking for granted the degree to which we need to be ever-aware of these issues. As is, I do not find this text approachable for someone new to the field of Cultural Studies (too labored) nor sufficiently provocative for someone who has mapped out the big questions.
Disappointing.