Staging Relational Ethics: Salmon Is Everything as Ritual Performance

Öz

This article examines Salmon Is Everything, a community-based play developed in response to the 2002 Klamath River fish kill, as an enactment of relational ethics through ritual performance. The study aimed to move beyond readings of the play as environmental protest or trauma narrative by analyzing how it functions as a ceremony that repairs and reconfigures relationships among Indigenous and settler communities, between humans and salmon, and across ecological and cultural divides. Methodologically, the research combined a close textual analysis of the script with testimonies from participants, audience surveys, and accounts of the collaborative creative process. Findings show that the play not only dramatized ecological crisis but also operated ceremonially: it cultivated intercultural empathy, produced spaces for mourning and reconciliation, and embodied Indigenous ethical protocols in both process and performance. Moreover, the project trained students and empowered Indigenous youth, contributing to long-term gains in intercultural collaboration. The conclusion argues that Salmon Is Everything demonstrates the potential of theatre to act as a form of ceremony that both embodies and generates relational ethics. By bridging artistic practice, activism, and environmental justice, the play offers a model of performance that transforms ecological devastation into a collective act of healing and ethical renewal.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Relational ethics
• ritual performance
• ecodrama
• environmental justice
• intercultural collaboration

Kaynakça

1. Arons, W., & May, T. J. (2012a). Introduction. In W. Arons & T. J. May (Eds.), Readings in performance and ecology (pp. 3–10). Palgrave Macmillan. google scholar
2. Boal, A. (2008). Theatre of the oppressed (C. A. Leal McBride & M. O. Leal McBride, Trans.; New ed.). Pluto Press. (Original work published 1979) google scholar
3. Bogert, J. M., et al. (2022). Reviewing the relationship between neoliberal societies and nature: implications of the industrialized dominant social paradigm for a sustainable future. Ecology and society: A journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability, 27(2), 7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13134-270207 google scholar
4. Borrows, J. (2018). Earthbound: Indigenous resurgence and environmental reconciliation. In M. Asch, J. Borrows, & J. Tully (Eds.), Resur- gence and reconciliation: Indigenous–settler relations and earth teachings (pp. 49–82). University of Toronto Press. https://doi. org/10.3138/9781487519926-004 google scholar
5. Borrows, J., & Tully, J. (2018). Introduction. In M. Asch, J. Borrows, & J. Tully (Eds.), Resurgence and reconciliation: Indigenous–settler relations and earth teachings (pp. 3–28). University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487519926-002 google scholar
6. Burcell, S. M. (2014). A call to action: We have to do something. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 13–22). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
7. California Department of Fish and Game. (2004). September 2002 Klamath River fish-kill: Final analysis of contributing factors and impacts. California Department of Fish and Game. https://klamathbasincrisis.org/fishkill/DFGreport2004.pdf google scholar
8. Carr, T. W. (2015). Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed. Theatre Topics, 25(3), 306–307. https://doi. org/10.1353/tt.2015.0033 google scholar

9. Cohen-Cruz, J. (2005). Local acts: Community-based performance in the United States. Rutgers University Press. google scholar
10. Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 193–203. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ilj/article/view/27669/20400 google scholar
11. Guzman, A. R. (2012). Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath Basin (Master’s thesis, Humboldt State University). google scholar
12. https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2172/google scholar
13. Hagen, D., & Gould, R. K. (2022). Relational values and empathy are closely connected: A study of residents of Vermont's Winooski River watershed Ecology and Society, 27(3): 19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13406-270319 google scholar
14. Hernandez, R. (2021, December 13). Bringing Indigenous perspectives to the stage. OPB. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/12/13/ bringing-indigenous-perspectives-to-the-stage/ google scholar
15. Howe, L. (1999). Tribalography: The power of Native stories. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 14(1), 117–125. google scholar
16. Ives, C. D., et al. (2018). Reconnecting with nature for sustainability. Sustainability Science, 13(5), 1389–1397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s 11625-018-0542-9 google scholar
17. Kammer, M. (2015). Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 30(1), 111–112. https://doi.org/10.1353/dtc.2015.0022 google scholar
18. Kershaw, B. (2007). Theatre ecology: Environments and performance events. Cambridge University Press.google scholar
19. Kimbrough, L. (2024, October 17). Largest dam removal ever, driven by Tribes, kicks off Klamath River recovery. Mongabay. https://news. mongabay.com/2024/10/largest-dam-removal-ever-driven-by-tribes-kicks-off-klamath-river-recovery/google scholar
20. McCovey, K. (2014). I am KARUK! My voice as Rose. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 93–102). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
21. Lacko, I. (2014). Imaginative communities: The role, practice and outreach of community-based theatre. Ars Aeterna, 6(2), 21–27. https:// doi.org/10.2478/aa-2014-0003 google scholar
22. May, T. J. (2005). Greening the theater: Taking ecocriticism from page to stage. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 7(1), 84–103. https://doi. org/10.2307/41209932 google scholar
23. May, T. J. (2007). Toward communicative democracy: Developing Salmon Is Everything. In P. Kuppers & G. Robertson (Eds.), The community performance reader (pp. 153–164). Routledge. google scholar
24. May, T. J. (2014a). The education of an artist. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 103–140). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
25. May, T. J. (2014b). Introduction. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 1–11). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
26. May, T. J. (2014c). Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed. Oregon State University Press. google scholar
27. May, T. J. (2021a). Introduction: Where has theatre been while the world’s been falling apart? In Earth matters on stage: Ecology and environment in American theater (pp. 1–17). Routledge. google scholar
28. May, T. J. (2021b). Preface. In Earth matters on stage: Ecology and environment in American theater (pp. xi–xvi). Routledge. google scholar
29. May, T. J. (2022). Ecodramaturgy and the genesis of the EMOS Ecodrama Festival. Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, 26. https://www.critical-stages.org/26/ecodramaturgy-and-the-genesis-of-the-emos-ecodrama-festival/ google scholar
30. May, T. J., & Clifford, M. L. (2020). Circles of relation: Community-based performance-as-activism in Salmon Is Everything. West- ern Humanities Review, 74(1), 146–175. https://theresajmay.com/files/Circles-of-Relation-Theresa-J-May-Marta-Clifford-Western-Humanities-Review-Spring-2020.pdf google scholar
31. McCovey, K. (2014). I am Karuk! My voice as Rose. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 93–102). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
32. National Research Council. (2004). Endangered and threatened fishes in the Klamath River Basin: Causes of decline and strategies for recovery. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10838google scholar
33. Noble, B. (2018). Treaty ecologies: With persons, peoples, animals, and the land. In M. Asch, J. Borrows, & J. Tully (Eds.), Resurgence and reconciliation: Indigenous–settler relations and earth teachings (pp. 315–342). University of Toronto Press. google scholar
34. Norgaard, K. M. (2019). Salmon and acorns feed our people: Colonialism, nature, and social action. Rutgers University Press. google scholar
35. O’Hara, J. (2014). The journey home. In T. J. May (Ed.), Salmon is everything: Community-based theatre in the Klamath watershed (pp. 141–148). Oregon State University Press. google scholar
36. Schechner, R. (2013). Performance studies: An introduction (3rd ed.). Routledge. google scholar
37. Stålhammar, S., & Thorén, H. (2019). Three perspectives on relational values of nature. Sustainability Science, 14, 1201–1212. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11625-019-00718-4 google scholar
38. Starblanket, G., & Stark, H. K. (2018). Towards a relational paradigm—Four points for consideration: Knowledge, gender, land, and modernity. In M. Asch, J. Borrows, & J. Tully (Eds.), Resurgence and reconciliation: Indigenous–settler relations and earth teachings (pp. 175–208). University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487519926-007 google scholar
39. Swezey, S. L., & Heizer, R. F. (1977). Ritual management of salmonid fish resources in California. The Journal of California Anthropology, 4(1), 6–29. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0rg7c5vf google scholar
40. Taylor, D. (2003). The archive and the repertoire: Performing cultural memory in the Americas. Duke University Press. google scholar
41. Thompson, L. (1991). To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok woman. University of California Press. (Original work published 1916) google scholar
42. Turner, V. (1987). From ritual to theatre: The human seriousness of play. Theatre Communications Group.google scholar
43. Turner, V. (2011). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Aldine Transaction. google scholar
44. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, & NOAA Fisheries. (2003). Klamath River fish die-off, September 2002: Causative factors of mortality. google scholar
45. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service & National Marine Fisheries Service. https://www.fws.gov/arcata/fisheries/reports/technical/KlamathFishDie-offReport2003.pdf google scholar
46. Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Publishing. google scholar
47. Litera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi–Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 35 (2): 348–365 google scholar