Peter Phipps

Performances of Power: Indigenous Cultural Festivals as Globally Engaged Cultural Strategy:

This article situates the phenomenon of indigenous cultural festivals in the context of globalization. It sees indigenous cultural performances as an assertion of rights and a call to recognition, while also embodying performative ethics that at times exceed these liberal discourses. Cultural festivals are one of the few consistently positive spaces for indigenous communities to forge and assert a more constructive view of themselves, both intergenerationally and as part of a drive for recognition and respect as distinct cultures in local, national, and international contexts. Through a comparative consideration of the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hawaii and Garma in remote northern Australia, this article argues that cultural festivals provide a potent space for intercultural accommodations to be negotiated on largely indigenous terrain. These events strengthen indigenous agency and reset the terms of cross-cultural engagements and contested sovereignties for at least the duration of these staged encounters.

Indigenous Festivals in Australia: Performing the Postcolonial

ABSTRACT Indigenous festivals can be a potent site for cross-cultural negotiations of meaning, and spaces where indigenous people can actively represent themselves and their cultures in a positive light. These events can also provide models and opportunities for fuller indigenous social, political and economic participation on indigenous terms [Phipps, Peter & Lisa Slater. 2010. Indigenous Cultural Festivals: Evaluating Impact on Community Health and Wellbeing. Report to Telstra Foundation, RMIT Globalism Research Centre. http://rmit.edu.au/globalism/publications/reports (ISBN 978-0-9805531-8-5)] and challenge hegemonic notions of sovereignty in a settler–colonial society [Phipps Peter 2010. ‘Performances of Power: Indigenous Cultural Festivals as Globally Engaged Cultural Strategy’. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 35(3); 2011. Performing Culture as Political Strategy: The Garma Festival, Northeast Arnhemland. In Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia, edited by Gibson Chris and John Connell. pp. 109–122. Bristol: Channel View Publications]. Along with the visual arts, festivals are one of the few consistently positive spaces for Australian Indigenous communities to show themselves and the world a more affirming view of their cultures and identities.