Staging Queer Spirituality: New perspectives on self-identity through Minstrelsy as multiplastic archetypal persona-performance

Fitton, Sean

Abstract

My thesis is based upon the findings from my post-graduate practice-as-research project.

I will propose a re-envisioning of the practice of Minstrelsy, not only as a traditional form of storytelling entertainment with its roots in ancient history and archetypal myths, but as a playful method by which its practitioner(s), through the understanding and communication of those myths, may come to experience an understanding of self-identity as a multiplastic ‘Minstrel Self’.

Through the performance of archetypally based personae, including that of the Minstrel themself, I will suggest an understanding of self-identity that deliberately foregrounds concepts of the natural plurality and fluidity of gender and sexuality in the human being, in direct contrast to the recent rise of anti-LGBTQ+, gender essentialist and ‘gender-critical’ attitudes expressed through popular media.

Through performative methods that use archetypal forms found in ancient myth and legend, and, specifically, through the playing of the Minstrel figure - a 'queer' storyteller and mythmaker, one that stands both within and apart from their own culture - I aim to define a special form of identity, the Minstrel Self.

The multiplastic 'Minstrel Self' as experienced through the performance of Minstrelsy, I argue, functions as a bridge between the archetypal and the ordinary, between the high and low of society, between times and cultures, and between the norms and differences of societal acceptance in gender, sexuality and (dis)ability.

Moreover, this Minstrel-esque element of the human psyche offers a sense of spiritual validation via its connection to ancient, mythological, ritualistic archetypal forms.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 27, 2024
• External URL: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/IvvDkUBA07RbCyzS?ref=Link
• Award Date: Sep 26, 2024