Integrity of Authenticity and Real Presence in The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey Kiewan Foxe University of Toronto FAS Caribbean Studies With performance often being used as a means of entertainment for many, audiences can sometimes be at fault for allowing their gullibility to fiction and historical inaccuracies led to dangerously self-constructed beliefs. Time and time again with regard to the colonial history of Indigeneity in the “New World,” we face the risk of falling victim to historical deceit. Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s performance, The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey, is a masterfully produced stage play that reveals flaws in past and present historical beliefs that were strengthened by almost laughable false colonial narratives. Highlighting the ignorance to Indigeneity in Western mind, the two performers lead the viewer to question their relationship with the history of oppressed societies or “the Other.” This analysis seeks to consider the significance of The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey in the context of the fragility and danger of colonial credence that leaves “the Other” as a victim of falsehoods. A B S T R A C T Keywords: Indigenous narratives, colonial perfor- mance, historical falsehoods, “the Other” B I O Kiewan Foxe is currently a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto with a focus on Caribbean Studies and drama. Finding the overlapping of the colonial history of the Caribbean and performance to be a fascinating subject, led to Kiewan becoming interest- ed in the world of Caribbean academia © 2021 Kiewan Foxe Caribbean Studies Students’ Union, Canada - https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cquilt/ This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 18 (January 20, 2022 / 09:38:40) 122864-1b_CaribbeanQuilt_Vol7_rev.pdf .18 19 Coco Fusco, “The Other History of Intercultural Performance,” TDR: Drama Review 38, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 147, https://doi.org/10.2307/1146361 Fusco, “Intercultural Performance,” 152. Melanie Newton, “‘The Race Leapt at Sauteurs’: Genocide, Narrative, and Indigenous Exile from the Caribbean Archipelago,” Caribbean Quarterly 60, no. 2 (February 2014): 7, https://doi.org/10.1080/00086495.2014.11671886. Newton, “Genocide, Narrative,” 7. Fusco, 162 1 3 Introduction Dating back to the discovery of the “New World” in the fifteenth century, it may be argued that terms such as ‘savage’, ‘uncivilized’, and ‘primitive’ were used in such an abundance due to no other justifi- cation than deliberate subjugation. In Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s performance, The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey, the two Latin Ameri- can performers cleverly highlight colonial ignorance, prejudiced views and lies by forcing their audiences to question the validity of their Western history and knowledge of “the Other.” This process seeks to contradict “contemporary tourist industries and cultural ministries of several countries around the world [that] still perpetuate the illusion of authenticity to cater to the Western fascination with otherness”. The significance of this remark is that the irony laden performance of The Couple in the Cage places its audience in a critical position which seeks to make them feel self-conscious about their Western views that forced the “Other” into “an aesthetic value”. The authenticity, or in this case unauthenticity, that Fusco and Gómez-Peña capture in their performance puts forth the idea that Western ideologies and colonial history abuses the ideal image of the Indigenous populations by highlighting the colonial practice of injecting fiction into history to fortify the fictional “aesthetic value” of Indigeneity in the “New World.” When watching the performance of The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey, one cannot help but consider that the performance is an accurate portrayal of the Indigenous falsities that Christopher Columbus would have spread upon returning to Europe. This is especially true considering the supporting narratives of scholars. For example, in considering Indigenous narratives in the Caribbean, historian Melanie Newton speaks to similar false assumptions in the Atlantic that originated in the fifteenth century. It is during this time when Columbus began the transmission of false accounts of Indigenous populations, such as their barbaric and violent nature, because he despised the colour of their skin. Howev- er, it is essential to note that it was also during this time that Columbus’s son, Hernando Colón, wrote a logbook that captured his father’s travels. The signifi- cance of his logbook is that it contradicted the supposed truths that his father played a significant role in influencing. The narratives of both Columbus and his son were needed to establish the substance of real presence in The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey. Fusco’s mention of one criticism of the performance not being authentic because her and Gómez-Peña’s skin were not being dark enough to look like “real primitives” coincides with history opting to believe Columbus’s account of Indigeneity over his son’s more accurate narrative. The persistence of these beliefs may be seen as an example of the ways which Western colonial views have been corrupted by the fetishization of 2 4 4 5 5 1 2 3 4 5 (January 20, 2022 / 09:38:40) 122864-1b_CaribbeanQuilt_Vol7_rev.pdf .19 20 Fusco, 149 ����'LDQD�7D\ORU��³$�6DYDJH�3HUIRUPDQFH��*XLOOHUPR�*yPH]�3HĔD�DQG�&RFR�)XVFR¶V�µ&RXSOH�LQ�WKH�&DJH�¶´�7'5��'UDPD� 5HYLHZ�����QR�����6XPPHU�������������KWWSV���GRL�RUJ���������GUDP�������������� � 6 WKH�UHODWLRQVKLS�RI�DXWKHQWLFLW\�DQG�UHDO� SUHVHQFH�LQ�7KH�&RXSOH�LQ�WKH�&DJH��$� *XDWLQDXL�2G\VVH\�LV�D�UHODWLRQVKLS�WKDW� PDNHV�RQH�FRQVFLRXV�WKDW�WKH�³2WKHUQHVV´� WKH�:HVWHUQ�ZRUOG�VHHPV�WR�EH�LQIDWXDWHG� ZLWK�LV�EDVHG�XSRQ�D�KLVWRULFDO�LOOXVLRQ�� ([SODLQHG�FDUHIXOO\�E\�)XVFR��GLVSOD\V�DQG� SHUIRUPDQFHV�VXFK�DV�7KH�&RXSOH�LQ�WKH� &DJH�DUH�³OLYLQJ�H[SUHVVLRQV�RI�FRORQLDO� IDQWDVLHV�DQG�KHOSHG�IRUJH�D�VSHFLDO�SODFH� LQ�WKH�(XURSHDQ�DQG�(XUR�$PHULFDQ� LPDJLQDWLRQ�IRU�QRQZKLWH�SHRSOHV�DQG� WKHLU�FXOWXUHV�´��,Q�PDQ\�ZD\V��RQH�FRXOG� GHHP�)XVFR�DQG�*yPH]�3HxD¶V�SHUIRU- PDQFH�DV�FRPHGLFDOO\�WUDJLF�LQ�WKH�VHQVH� WKDW�WKHUH�ZDV�D�WLPH�LQ�KLVWRU\�ZKHUH�WKHLU� SHUIRUPDQFH�ZRXOG�KDYH�IXHOOHG�(XURFHQ- WULF�LGHRORJLHV��7KH�DVVXPSWLRQ�RQH�PDNHV� DERXW�7KH�&RXSOH�LQ�WKH�&DJH�LV�WKDW�IRU� PRVW�LI�QRW�DOO�RI�WKH�DXGLHQFH��WKLV�LV�WKH� ILUVW�WLPH�WKDW�WKHLU�WKRXJKWV�DUH�EHLQJ� DVVRFLDWHG�ZLWK�D�YLVLEOH�SHUFHSWLRQ�� FUHDWLQJ�VRPHZKDW�RI�D�OLWHUDO�SUHVHQFH�IRU� WKHP�WR�H[SHULHQFH��,Q�RWKHU�ZRUGV��GXULQJ� WKH�FRQFHSWLRQ�RI�IDOVH�LQGLJHQRXV�QDUUD- WLYHV��RQH�ZRXOG�OLNH�WR�PDNH�WKH�FODLP� WKDW�GXULQJ�WKH�ILIWHHQWK�FHQWXU\��WKRVH�ZKR� EHOLHYHG�&ROXPEXV¶V�VWDWHPHQWV�KDG�QR� PHDQV�RI�UHDOL]LQJ�WKH�DEVXUGLWLHV�LQ�KLV� VWRULHV��ZKLFK�LV�ZK\�KLV�ZRUGV�ZHUH�WDNHQ� IRU�WUXWK� ,Q�SHUIRUPDQFH�VWXGLHV��3URIHVVRU�'LDQH� 7D\ORU¶V�FULWLFDO�UHYLHZ�RI�7KH�&RXSOH�LQ� WKH�&DJH��7D\ORU�WKRXJKW�SURYRNLQJO\� UHJDUGV�WKH�SHUIRUPDQFH�DV�D�V\VWHPDWLF� UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ�WKDW�³SDURGLHV��SURGXFHV� DQG�H[SRVHV�WKH�RWKHU��DQG�XQZLWWLQJO\� FROOXGHV�ZLWK�WKH�HWKQRJUDSKLF�SOHDVXUHV�LW� VHWV�RXW�WR�GHFRQVWUXFW��6R�LV�WKDW�WKH� SRLQW"�7KDW�WKHUH�LV�QR��RWKHU���QR�QRQFR- HUFLYH�V\VWHP�RI�UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ"´��� 7KURXJKRXW�WKLV�DQDO\VLV��WKH�ZRUG� ³2WKHU´�LV�FRQWLQXRXVO\��7KH�IROORZLQJ� RQH¶V�YLHZLQJ�RI�7KH�&RXSOH�LQ�WKH�&DJH�� LW�FDXVHV�RQH�WR�UHDOL]H�WKDW�WKH�FRQFHSW�RI� ³WKH�2WKHU´�LV�D�SURGXFW�RI�FRORQLDOLVP� WKDW�LV�DUJXDEO\�LQWULQVLF�SUHVHQW�LQ�DQ\� VRFLHW\��7KH�&RXSOH�LQ�WKH�&DJH��$�*XDWL- QDXL�2G\VVH\�LV�D�SHUIRUPDQFH�WKDW�PD\� OHDG�WKH�YLHZHU�WR�TXHVWLRQ�PDQ\�DVSHFWV� RI�FRORQLDOLVP��DQG�LQ�PDQ\�ZD\V��LW�PD\� EH�DUJXHG�WKDW�)XVFR�DQG�*yPH]�3HxD¶V� SHUFHSWLRQ�VHHNV�WR�FKDQJH�RQH¶V�LPSUHV- VLRQ�RI�SHUIRUPDQFH�DUW��7KH�SHUIRUPDQFH� FUHDWHV�VXFK�DQ�LPSDFWIXO�FDWKDUWLF�IHHOLQJ� WKDW�QRW�RQO\�OHDYHV�RQH�ZLWK�DQ�DSSUHFLD- WLYH�IHHOLQJ��EXW�DOVR�VHUYHV�DV�D�UHIOHFWLQJ� SLHFH�WKDW�OHDYHV�RQH�TXHVWLRQLQJ�ZKDW� RWKHU�DVSHFWV�RI�KLVWRU\�KDYH�EHHQ�XQIDLWK- IXOO\�UHFRUGHG� 6 7 7 (January 20, 2022 / 09:38:40) 122864-1b_CaribbeanQuilt_Vol7_rev.pdf .20 21 Fusco, Coco., Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and Paula. 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