Narratives: Parallel and Broken as intervention

My recent derive leads me to reconsidering the use of narrative in socially/ culturally engaged critique. The stories in times of uprisings and revolutions certainly carry their fair share of narrative ( oft times propaganda).

The following is an excerpt from an essay I wrote during my MA Studies. The context, unsurprisingly, is Siwa...I include it to remind myself, and anyone interested, in the relevance of broken narrative as intervention. I notice Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed , are making a comeback around the country as an educational tool.

             Parallel narratives and mythologies are steeped around Siwa Oasis, from Alexander the Great and the Temple of Amun, to Cambysses army of 40,000 men who perished in the treacherous sand sea never to be seen again, to the conception and subsequent eco-build of the luxurious hotel at Adere Amelle. The remote Oasis town as subject, lends itself particularly well to ideas regarding novel forms of essaying, poetics of thought, and, to touch on Jean Luc Nancy’s The Inoperative Community, is an interesting site upon which to briefly discuss ideas concerning an Interrupted Mythology.[23]

             Nancy speaks of ancient and perhaps ‘primitive’ mythology serving to define and unite community, as ‘the unique voice of the many’.[24] He contests that this mythology was interrupted by Enlightenment thinking that strove to find ‘a new mythology’ based on the already complete or fulfilled mythology of classical Greek and Roman society. It is in this fulfillment and exposure of itself as myth, that the (now) previous myth(ology) is interrupted. Thus is birthed: the myth of the interrupted myth, where the two opposing definitions of myth co-exist. The idea of layered myth, both ancient and interrupted, could be seen to be at the centre of the contested identity of Siwa Oasis. Writing of the mythology of interrupted mythology ( a kind of re-jigged literary narrative essaying), it is argued can be seen as an intervention in itself. Not only does this intervention technically resonate with Brecht's theatre technique of - Verfremdungseffekt (translated as "defamiliarization effect", which likewise cuts the narrative, through the incorporation  a "distancing effect", or "estrangement effect", but also appeals to the viewer/ reader to seek layers through layers of meaning, a process most relevent to the complex everyday situation we find ourselves in due to the transnational implications of hegemonic globalisation. Brecht adapted many theatre techniques around the notion of the V-effect, these have been taken up by actors, directors and social critics alike, and include the use of movement between third and first person narrative; past and present tense, use of placards; the idea of the audience creating the narrative and harsh sudden lighting. [25]

These methods are most useful to the essayist looking towards trans genre means of communication. In the context of Mythology Interrupted, Nancy reiterates on the theme of communication, the essence of this essay, afterall:

‘Communication ‘itself’ is infinite between finite beings. Providing these beings do not try to communicate to one another myths about their own infinity, for in such a case they instantly disconnect the communication.’[26]

Returning to The Maghreb Connection, to conclude this investigation relating the theme of a transnational context to trans genre and hybrid solutions through artistic and activist practice, we note that, ‘…part of the book's intention is to serve as a basis for continuing theaters of learning and questioning, as well as continuing processes of production, in the expanded field of art reconceived as visual geography.’ [27]

The Maghreb Connection, like the proposed stages of intervention in Siwa Oasis against the ongoing branded overdevelopment of local craft enterprise, is an ongoing project of open-ended longevity. An intervention, of the sort proposed may only be a small offering In the enormity of the challenges we face on the planet, but If it in any shape or form assists the local community to reinstate self-determination and autonomy in their decision making process then it is a success. It is argued that projects of an open ended nature are greatly needed in the fast paced globalised world we inhabit.

By thinking widely on problems at a transnational level, we are able to expand our scope for response through imaginative and challenging mechanisms and systems of linkage. To quote Ursula Biemann one more time:

‘Essayist practice is highly self-reflexive in that it constantly reconsiders the act of image-making and the desire to produce meaning. It is consciously engaged in the activity of representation itself. These characteristics make the genre particularly suited to study complex relations. Essayist work doesn’t aim primarily at documenting realities but at organizing complexities.’[28]

And there are complexities. A dazzling myriad of complexities, that only we can figure out, and that, Georg Lukacs , when ‘comparing the essay to other forms of literature, using the metaphor of “ultra-violet rays” (sees)  refracted through the literary prism.’[29]

[23] Nancy, Jean Luc, The inoperative community University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis and Oxford. 1991

[24] ibid

[25] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht#Theory_and_practice_of_theatre

[26] Nancy, Jean Luc, The inoperative community, p.67.  University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis and Oxford. 1991

[27] Ursula Biemann; Stuff It, http://www.geobodies.org/02_curatorial_projects/2006_maghreb_connection//

[28] Ursula Biemann; The Video Essay in the Digital Age, P10 pdf downloaded from geobodies/ from Zurich? Book/ now pdf.

[29] ibid

SCAF ( Supreme Council of Armed Forces) in Egypt had a very certain theatrical narrative during the, as I call it, first wane, of the Revolution as can be seen from video clip below: