myron beasley Research

My research is broadly situated within the interdisciplinary area of Critical Communication studies. Specifically I locate my work in the realms of intercultural performance, a paradigm that critique, explore and interrogate the theories of human communication with special attention to the oral performance of narrative and cross cultural engagement . My over-arching research questions concern the transference/performance of indigenous ritual and shamanistic practices from Africa to distinct communities in the western hemisphere. Most recently I explore ritualized sites of death/loss in the African Diaspora. My particular interests involve issues of memory and the performative sacred acts of (re)memory. Through the use of ethnographic methodologies my work reveals a glimpse of the complexities of human social interaction, particularly identity formation through the utterance of personal narratives about death/loss. I am a part of a growing community of scholars (across disciplinary distinctions) who seek to conduct research that will inform, facilitate some form empowerment and emancipation—not only for those who participate, as well as those who might view and read the research projects. This critical approach challenges the responsibility of the researcher and interrogates the mode of representation the scholarship takes. Currently questions of identification and (dis)identificatory politics (race, gender, sexuality), narrative (oral performance of personal utterances), and locality (space, place, and dislocation) and how people within marginal communities negotiate such variables figure prominently in the work that I am doing.
The links on the right of the page are video images or slide shows of my current Sacred Sites.

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Adodi: The Adodi is a community of “Same gender loving men” who appropriate rituals for the Yoruba tradition as a means of affirmation. Central to the convening of this community is the “Tribute to the Ancestor” ritual where the remember the dead.

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“Ritual/Feast” is a participatory performance that explores the concept of “giving thanks” through the process of engaging in a processional to the site of the feast. Commencing in the library rotunda, the participates gathered in a circle surrounding the performer who sits chanting and meditating (giving thanks) while images of “food—the feast” appears on the screen above. The performer then leads the audience/participants to the site of the feast, creating a trail of memory by dropping rose petals on our journey, hence exploring the relationship between "giving thanks", sacrifice and memory. This performance installation is about engaging in such communal ( a ritual feast) events and interrogates liminality. This performance was held on Saturday, June 3, 2004 on the campus of Bryant University.

Performing the Archive: Gastronomical Performances of Rhode Island Black Authored Cookbooks and Other Food NarrativesThe study of 18th and early 19th century domesticity provides enormous insight of the cultural landscape of colonial America particularly in regard to race, economic complexities and class status construction. Building on existing archival excavations by using the memoir and other narrative forms such as biographies, letters, and journals, I wish to undertake an original performance research project using black authored cookbooks and/or other narratives on the topic of food during 18th and early 19th century Rhode Island. To examine the cookbook as a primary historical document can unbury marginal and in most cases hidden narratives of Rhode Island’s historical past. My new project is to invite the communities of Rhode Island to engage in the “hidden storied lives” through a series of gastronomical performance pieces at specific sites throughout the state. My new work shifts from the performance of the repertoire-- “lived bodily experience” to a performance of the archive. To engage in the archive as a performance is to unbury and excavate social memory, hidden narratives, and untold stories. As an artist my goal in this project is to create spaces where memories of the past are uttered not to bring the historical narrative to an end, but to work through memories of Rhode Islands’ past, to recall the “little known” lives of African Americans through the ruins of gastronomical texts left behind. The past informs the present. Performances slated for 2005.

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Festival da Boa Morte: Senora da Boa Morte, a secret society of black women (founded during slavery) who emerge from there sacred dwellings in the small village of Cachoeira, the birth place of Candomble` on the first Friday before August 15. They emerge for three days to celebrate the death of Mary and to prepare a ritual feast for the community.


dr. myron beasley
{bio}	{teaching}		{research}
		{The Adodi}
		{Festival da Boa Morte}
		{Sacred Gastronomica}
		{Performance: “Ritual/ Feast”}
		{Performing the Archive}
		{Performance Narrative & Incarceration}