Professor Helen Gilbert (RHUL)
Director of the International Centre for Theatre and Performance Research

Olympic Games provide unique opportunities for marginalised peoples to express their cultural traditions in pageants prepared for a vast media audience. This lecture will look at Opening Ceremonies in Canada, Australia and the USA with a specific focus on performances by Aboriginal/Native groups. The aim is to weigh the exoticising effects of spectacle against the benefits of global visibility while also paying attention to the protest movements that have accompanied such events.

This event has been recorded and is available as a podcast at the following URL: http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2012/02/helen-gilbert-%E2%80%98let-the-games-begin%E2%80%99-indigenous-performance-and-global-spectacle-1976-2010/