ABSTRACT

In the previous chapter we argued that the female identity spaces contained in A Doll’s House and Antigone contributed to the successful export of these European narratives to non-western countries. The trading of subjectivities also dominates this chapter, but from western exports we turn to western imports, and particularly to the shifts in subjectivity introduced to audiences through the performance of shamanic and indigenous rituals. Once again we make the distinction between identities linked to the private and public domains. In the realm of the private, we shall consider a performance tour of four Australian cities by the Korean

shaman and spiritual leader, Kim Kum hwa; with regard to the public domain, we consider ritual performances in these same four cities by indigenous women from the Central Australian Warlpiri clan. In both these accounts we invite the artists to explain their motivations for performing ritual in an intercultural context, and we explore the meanings derived from their performances by urban Australian audiences. We argue that the Korean performances were consumed as a form of personal spiritual enrichment and the Warlpiri performances were consumed as symbolic gestures in the creation of national identity.