Intermedia and interculturalism: practitioners’ perspectives on an interactive theatre for young ethnic minority students in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a case study of an interactive theatre for young ethnic minority pupils in Hong Kong. Drawing upon Higgins’s (1966) notion of ‘intermedia’ as a configurational principle, this creative project entails collaboratively-designed performances with elements of drama, music, dance, puppetry, and language learning principles. This study explores–from practitioners’ perspectives–the pedagogical affordances of this intermedia-inspired collaborative project in early childhood settings targeting culturally diverse groups in Hong Kong. Qualitative findings emerging out of autoethnographic reflections of five practitioners, complemented with nonparticipant observation, have pointed to the emergence of an interculturalist gestalt in dialogue with an intermedial configuration. We argue that this opens up spaces for artistic participation and learning beyond language(s) in the early years through tapping into the pedagogical potentials of this creative project. Qualitative data also suggest that practitioners’ abilities to exercise flexibility and openness in response to an intermedial configuration have a mediating effect. Concluding remarks are made of the under-utilisation of intermedia as a boundary-destabilising and configurational principle in arts-based endeavours, and as a pedagogical principle in which multimodal and multisensory learning is embraced as the way forward, with insights drawn from cultural democracy and culturally responsive pedagogy.