Shaquira Lue

Thesis title

Reconnecting Through Nature: Exploring Belonging in diasporic communities through nature-oriented, devised physical theatre practice. 

Abstract

Can the natural world offer a pathway home for those who have been displaced from it? 

Sitting at the intersection of devised physical theatre, eco-somatic practice, and decolonial ecology, this research asks how nature-oriented devised practice might foster a sense of belonging for diasporic communities in Cornwall. Expanding on previous auto-ethnographic research into identity and belonging, it deepens the focus by examining how creative sensory engagement with nature might foster community and heritage.  

Drawing on place theory (Tuan; Casey), and diaspora as physical place (Clifford; Brah; Bhabha), the project explores how creative ecological practices support a deeper sense of civic and environmental responsibility underpinning feelings of belonging for people in diasporic communities. The duality of emigration and immigration within Cornwall will be explored in the early stages of the project with community participants to help define understandings of ‘diaspora’ in the specific context of this research. 

Beginning from a decolonial understanding of nature, one that acknowledges humans as part of rather than apart from the natural world (Whyte; Yusoff), the project investigates how creative, sensory engagement with natural materials and landscapes might cultivate community, heritage, and civic and environmental belonging. 

The culmination of the research is to establish an eco-theatre subgenre through devised practice informed by theatre practitioners such as Artaud, Grotowski, Lecoq, Complicité, Gecko, and Kneehigh, creating a practice that holds space for diasporic self-reflection, collective identity, and the radical act of coming home to nature.