The Migrant as Playwright: Playback Theatre on the Border Wall is a study of narratives shared by migrants during a Playback Theatre project in Tijuana refugee camps, examining how improvisational performance, ethnographic research and activism converge at the US-Mexico border.

Readers will gain a nuanced understanding of how Playback Theatre functions not as a tool for representing marginalised voices but as a practice of embodied listening and mutual transformation. The book delivers this through an in-depth exploration of Enacted Ethnography, a methodology developed by the author that integrates performance work with ethnographic research via horizontal collaboration. It demonstrates how artistic practice can forge communities, address issues of marginalisation, violence and migration, and actively participate in shaping the present.

This book is intended for scholars, students and practitioners in performance studies, migration studies and applied theatre. It will also appeal to those working in ethnographic research, social activism and community-based arts who seek a practical and theoretical framework for combining performance with scholarly inquiry. Booksellers and instructors will find it suitable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses examining the intersection of performance, politics and migration.

Norbert Otto Ross is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Theatre at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA.