14. Personal Narratives and Social Constructs through Autoethnography in Performance Studies

This chapter combines personal experience and cultural analysis through the method of autoethnography.1 The author, a Black, non-binary, queer researcher, draws on their fieldwork in Curaçao to examine Bos di Nos Pueblo, a 2015 play by Teatro Kadaken. Through a combination of diary entries, observations, interviews, and self-reflection, the chapter explores how issues of sexuality, identity, and belonging are expressed through performance. The author reflects on their own position within the community and recounts moments of closeness and tension, including a public vote on same-sex marriage that highlighted their family’s rejection and the resulting emotional distance this created. The chapter concludes by linking these descriptions of autoethnography to other contexts, such as a project in which undocumented migrants developed a bilingual theatre piece based on their lived experiences. Using these examples, the chapter shows how autoethnography can connect individual stories to broader social and political issues.