Conversation II: The Prinz and Pedagogy, Identity and Cultural Appropriation

In Chapter 9, the two directors and the lead researcher resume their conversation, this time focusing mainly on the South African production and questions of cultural appropriation. The development process at Stellenbosch University unfolded in a pedagogical space with students who were just beginning their development as artists. They were also struggling with questions of self-identification versus the identities being imposed upon them—a situation which gave them a unique perspective from which to understand the Terezín prisoners’ relationship to their own Jewishness. We discuss whether performance can help us find a way to move past arguments that prevent us from engaging productively with other cultures, given the frequent inevitability, in theatre, of speaking from a place that is not our own.

Keywords: cultural appropriation ; pedagogy ; racism ; South Africa ; Terezín ; theatre