Tanatchaporn Kittikong
PANEL 1
10:30 - 12:00 (GMT+1) / 16:30 - 18:00 (GMT+7)
Provocation: Can the cultural body of a performer trained in the Western theatre tradition but in a country that was not colonised be a site for exploring alternative approaches to decolonising the curriculum?
BIOGRAPHY
Tanatchaporn Kittikong (also Or Kittikong) is a theatre and performance educator at Khon Kaen University, Thailand. She trained as an actor in Russia, earned a master’s in drama in education from England, and a practice-led research PhD from Australia. She holds a deep interest in theatre for educational settings, well-being, and artistic endeavours. Her research concentrates on the bodymind and movement of performers in performance practice, intercultural acting, and performance making. She is the author of the first Thai textbook on performance, titled “Performance: A Basic Understanding of Performance” (2020). She is a scholar, researcher, and practitioner of Thai contemporary performance.
ABSTRACT
The case for putting in place measures for decolonising the curriculum may be clear in the broad historical context of the eras of colonisation. However, the existence of countries and societies that have not been colonised creates a layer of complexity to the terminology used and individuals’ lived experiences. What implications does this position have for individuals directly affected by contemporary processes of decolonisation in HE in the UK, US, and Europe?
My colleague and I speak from the positionality of being identified with Thailand. The country of Thailand has not officially been colonised, although it is often seen as crypto-colonial or economically colonised. As a further sub-context, the beginning of Thai modern theatre in 1970 was a result of the establishment of Western style modern theatre programmes in Thai HE by Western trained Thai scholars. As of 2024, it will have been 54 years since Western theatre formally began shaping Thai modern theatre and the cultural bodies of generations of Thai theatre students, scholars, and practitioners. These performers’ bodies are culturally not of ‘the West’ but are engaged in training that was created by Western theatre practitioner-educators. Is this circumstance sufficient for implementing a decolonisation of the curriculum or are there other pathways to consider? This backdrop creates a strong case for examining the cultural flows and influences that might offer valuable new perspectives on the current processes of decolonisation. We hope this provocation will generate conversations and expand the discursive space around decolonisation of the curriculum.