Dr. Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta
Position
Status
On leave July 01-June 30
Contact
Credentials
BA (Honours) Utrecht University The Netherlands, MA Utrecht University The Netherlands, PhD The University of Manchester United Kingdom
Area of expertise
Applied Theatre: language revitalization and theatre, aesthetics of theatre, ethics of theatre, community projects, devising for performance
Areas of Research & Creative Activity
Indigenous theatre and language revitalization, theatre in war and (post)-conflict zones, theatre in developing settings, and more specifically the meaning global economics, aesthetics, social justice and human rights within the field of applied theatre.
Courses
THEA 132:
THEA 235:
THEA 394: : Theatre, Conflict and Development
THEA 394: : Indigenous Performance and Language Revitalization
THEA 435:
THEA 590:
Brief Biography
Dr. Sadeghi-Yekta received her BA (Honours) and MA in Theatre Studies from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and her Ph.D. in Drama, Applied Theatre from The University of Manchester, United Kingdom. She has taught at Simon Fraser University. Prior to teaching in Canada, she was a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre in London, and a graduate teaching assistant at The University of Manchester.
As a theatre practitioner, Dr. Sadeghi-Yekta has been involved in projects with different communities and in a variety of countries. For instance, she has worked with the Hul’q’umi’num’ community on Vancouver Island, with children in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, young people in Brazilian favelas, young woman in rural areas of Cambodia, adolescents in Nicaragua, and students with special needs in schools in The Netherlands. Currently, she is working on her SSHRC Partnership Development Grant and Insight Development Grant on Coast Salish language revitalization through theatre.
Her research has been supported by different scholarships, including SSHRC’s Partnership Development Grant; SSHRC’s Insight Development Grant; and the Prince Bernhard Scholarship for excellent research capacities, which is administered under the auspices of His Royal Highness Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parma.
Selected Professional Achievements
Awards
- SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, Principal Investigator, Staging Indigenous Languages at the Snuneymuxwqun Centre 2022-2023
- SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, Principal Investigator, Championing Indigenous Languages through Theatre 2022-2025
- SSHRC Connection Grant, Principal Investigator, Language Heroes on Stage, an Indigenous Theatre Festival 2020-2022
- SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, Principal Investigator, Hul’q’umi’num’ heroes: reclaiming language through theatre 2016-2019
- SSSHRC Insight Development Grant, Principal Investigator, Setting the stage: Theatre as a tool for Coast Salish language revitalization 2016
- Honorable mention Distinguished Dissertation Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education 2016
Selected Publications
Books and Book Chapters
Sadeghi-Yekta, Kirsten and Prendergast, Monica Applied Theatre: Ethics, London: Bloomsbury Methuen (2022)
Sadeghi-Yekta, Kirsten and Vibert, Elizabeth “Ch. 8: Power in place: Dilemmas in leading field schools to the Global South,” in Out there learning: Critical reflections on off-campus study programs, Toronto: University of Toronto Press (2019) pp. 153-173. [Peer-reviewed]
Sadeghi-Yekta, Kirsten, Hallewas, Anita and Afolabi, Taiwo “Shifting identities on new territories: creating theatre with and by immigrants,” in Performing Canadian Frontiers: Theatre and (Im)Migration. New Essays on Canadian Theatre ed. Yana Meerzon, Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press (2019) [Peer-reviewed]
Sadeghi-Yekta, Kirsten “Ch. 5: Competing international players and their aesthetic imperatives,” in Applied Theatre: Aesthetics ed. Gareth White, London: Bloomsbury Methuen. [Peer-reviewed]
Articles
Sadeghi-Yekta, K. “Drama as a methodology for Coast Salish language revitalization” in Canadian Theatre Review 181, (2020) [Peer-reviewed]
Sadeghi-Yekta, K. “Hul’q’umi’num’ language heroes: a successful collaboration between Elders, community organizations, and Canadian West Coast universities” in Research in Drama Education, 24.3 (2019) [Peer-reviewed]
Sadeghi-Yekta, K. “Y los de Teatro cuándo vuelven? The future of internationalised applied theatre in Nicaragua” in Research in Drama Education, 22.2. (2017) [Peer-reviewed]
Sadeghi-Yekta, K. “In the Limelight: enthusiasm, commitment and need” in Research in Drama Education, 22.1. (2017) [Peer-reviewed]