PERFORM Colloquium: Engaging performance audiences as listeners of a restorative justice process in the context of sexual abuse

The main objective of this research-creation project is to develop insights into how to safely engage both specific target audiences and a wider general public as reflective listeners of personal narratives by both a victim and an offender of sexual violence who have undergone a successful restorative justice process.

To achieve its objective, the project uses the pre-recorded narratives by a man, “Jeremy”—who committed serious sexual crimes and second-degree murder in the past—who has been a law-abiding citizen on parole for more than ten years. The project also uses the narrative of a woman, Julie Ann Carpini —a victim of multiple forms of sexual violence including incest, rape and conjugal violence—who has gone a long way in terms of coping with the wounds that sexual violence has left on her.

Julie Ann is a collaborator in the project and works along theatre students in the search for ways to re-perform her narratives. Both narratives will be used as material to create an oral history performance. In this talk, I reflect on the process and the insights gained so far.

Emily Coffey PhD, assistant professor, Department of psychology, Concordia university, will give a brief talk titled "Science and the arts in preventative health: adventures in interdisciplinary neuroscience" prior to Dr. Sotelo Castro's talk.

The 1-hour seminar will be followed by a 30-minute round table discussion.