{"id":{"repo_id":"vu-aus","oai_identifier":"oai:eprints.vu.edu.au:25361"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vu-aus/oai:eprints.vu.edu.au:25361","repository":{"repo_id":"vu-aus","name":"Victoria University (Australia)","base_url":"https://vuir.vu.edu.au/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Performing belonging: meeting on and in the earth","abstract":"This Masters by Research project involves two ways of meeting that explore, in complimentary ways, the question of belonging. It comprises this exegesis and a performance at a spot near where I’ve lived for 15 years, on the banks of the Merri Creek in Melbourne. This spot is where John Batman probably met with Wurundjeri elders on June 6th 1835, with the aim of negotiating a treaty for the buying of 500,000 acres of their land. When I walk along the Merri Creek I feel that it is in some way ‘mine’, but know that this is only the case because the original inhabitants were violently prevented from maintaining their traditional lives here. For contemporary Aboriginal people, Australia can be felt as ‘theirs’ and ‘not theirs’; and many immigrant Australians who now ‘belong’ here were, either themselves or their ancestors, violently moved off their own homelands. It could be argued that Australians’ relationship to the land is paradoxical. I am interested in what theatre, specifically site-­‐specific theatre, can do to address the issue of belonging. Neil Leach describes belonging as inherently performative.1 Assuming that the personal, social, historical and spatial are inseparable and interdependent, I have chosen a site that is particularly evocative of my (and hopefully other Australians too), exploration of connection to this country.","abstract_html":"This Masters by Research project involves two ways of meeting that explore, in complimentary ways, the question of belonging. It comprises this exegesis and a performance at a spot near where I’ve lived for 15 years, on the banks of the Merri Creek in Melbourne. This spot is where John Batman probably met with Wurundjeri elders on June 6th 1835, with the aim of negotiating a treaty for the buying of 500,000 acres of their land. When I walk along the Merri Creek I feel that it is in some way ‘mine’, but know that this is only the case because the original inhabitants were violently prevented from maintaining their traditional lives here. For contemporary Aboriginal people, Australia can be felt as ‘theirs’ and ‘not theirs’; and many immigrant Australians who now ‘belong’ here were, either themselves or their ancestors, violently moved off their own homelands. It could be argued that Australians’ relationship to the land is paradoxical. I am interested in what theatre, specifically site-­‐specific theatre, can do to address the issue of belonging. Neil Leach describes belonging as inherently performative.1 Assuming that the personal, social, historical and spatial are inseparable and interdependent, I have chosen a site that is particularly evocative of my (and hopefully other Australians too), exploration of connection to this country.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Berger, Karen"],"institution":"Victoria University","degree_name":"other","degree_level":"rmaster","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013","date_published":"2013","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:33:34Z","subjects":["1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing","2103 Historical Studies","2204 Religion and Religious Traditions","College of Arts"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Berger, Karen"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2013"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2013"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["College of Arts"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Victoria University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25361/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["rmaster"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["other"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing","2103 Historical Studies","2204 Religion and Religious Traditions","College of Arts"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25361/1/BERGER%20Karen-thesis_nosignature.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This Masters by Research project involves two ways of meeting that explore, in complimentary ways, the question of belonging. It comprises this exegesis and a performance at a spot near where I’ve lived for 15 years, on the banks of the Merri Creek in Melbourne. This spot is where John Batman probably met with Wurundjeri elders on June 6th 1835, with the aim of negotiating a treaty for the buying of 500,000 acres of their land. When I walk along the Merri Creek I feel that it is in some way ‘mine’, but know that this is only the case because the original inhabitants were violently prevented from maintaining their traditional lives here. For contemporary Aboriginal people, Australia can be felt as ‘theirs’ and ‘not theirs’; and many immigrant Australians who now ‘belong’ here were, either themselves or their ancestors, violently moved off their own homelands. It could be argued that Australians’ relationship to the land is paradoxical. I am interested in what theatre, specifically site-­‐specific theatre, can do to address the issue of belonging. Neil Leach describes belonging as inherently performative.1 Assuming that the personal, social, historical and spatial are inseparable and interdependent, I have chosen a site that is particularly evocative of my (and hopefully other Australians too), exploration of connection to this country."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Performing belonging: meeting on and in the earth"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Berger, Karen"],"dc:date":["2013"],"dc:date.issued":["2013"],"dc:description.abstract":["This Masters by Research project involves two ways of meeting that explore, in complimentary ways, the question of belonging. It comprises this exegesis and a performance at a spot near where I’ve lived for 15 years, on the banks of the Merri Creek in Melbourne. This spot is where John Batman probably met with Wurundjeri elders on June 6th 1835, with the aim of negotiating a treaty for the buying of 500,000 acres of their land. When I walk along the Merri Creek I feel that it is in some way ‘mine’, but know that this is only the case because the original inhabitants were violently prevented from maintaining their traditional lives here. For contemporary Aboriginal people, Australia can be felt as ‘theirs’ and ‘not theirs’; and many immigrant Australians who now ‘belong’ here were, either themselves or their ancestors, violently moved off their own homelands. It could be argued that Australians’ relationship to the land is paradoxical. I am interested in what theatre, specifically site-­‐specific theatre, can do to address the issue of belonging. Neil Leach describes belonging as inherently performative.1 Assuming that the personal, social, historical and spatial are inseparable and interdependent, I have chosen a site that is particularly evocative of my (and hopefully other Australians too), exploration of connection to this country."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25361/1/BERGER%20Karen-thesis_nosignature.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher.department":["College of Arts"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Victoria University"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://vuir.vu.edu.au/25361/"],"dc:subject":["1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing","2103 Historical Studies","2204 Religion and Religious Traditions","College of Arts"],"dc:title":["Performing belonging: meeting on and in the earth"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["rmaster"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["other"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:33:34Z"}