Portrait of a circus girl

Drawn from many months of ethnographic research with a classic European Circus in Switzerland, this narrative traces the author's close contact and experience with one young circus woman over a 24-hour period. Through this brief portrait witnessing one particular individual's story, larger themes - language, hierarchy, family, circus/town divides, belonging and exclusion, performance, gender roles, national identity, and more - all arise as key practices and performances for understanding the experience of European circus life. 'Alessandra' is a real person, a friend, and to those who know her in or out of the circus world, a compelling character. Not an explicit reflection on, nor analysis of, ethnographic experience, this 'tale from the field' is instead in-the-moment narration and commentary written to immerse the reader, engaging them in the ethnographic imagination, evoking lived experience, and inviting as many worthwhile questions as it may answer

Aesthetics · Art · Character (mathematics · Ethnography · Girl · Hierarchy · Identity (music · Key (lock · Literature · Narrative · Portrait · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Philippine History and Culture · Psychology