Reminder: ASTR Working Group_Object Lessons

[Marlis Schweitzer]

*Object Lessons: Performances, Pedagogies, and Things (2 Hour Session)*

*Conveners:*Marlis Schweitzer, York University (schweit at yorku.ca 
<mailto:schweit at yorku.ca>) and Joanne Zerdy, Independent Scholar 
(j.zerdy at gmail.com <mailto:j.zerdy at gmail.com>)

Victorian "object lessons," designed to teach children to make careful 
observations of discrete objects and their own surroundings through a 
language educed from the objects, act as the impetus for our working 
group. What lessons might we learn (as artists, scholars, educators) by 
closely attending to and following the paths of physical objects and how 
they shape theatre -- and performance-making and research? Our session 
seeks participants with a diverse range of sites and research questions 
who are committed to investigating networks of, and relationships 
between, physical objects, technologies, natural and built environments, 
and/or human and nonhuman bodies. We draw on methodologies and theories 
within and beyond theatre and performance studies, including, but not 
limited to, actor-network theory, thing theory, object-oriented 
ontology, material culture, and "posthuman" studies in its various 
forms. Our group will serve as a dynamic hub for those tracing the 
vibrant and influential qualities of theatrical things and querying a 
subject-object or nature-culture binary in performance.

Papers might address the following questions:

  * What can a theatrical object's production history and circulation
    teach us about the movements of ideas, languages, and bodies at
    specific times and places?
  * How does a thingcentric perspective challenge critical pedagogies
    within theatre and performance studies? What does it mean to/learn
    from/an object and how does this compare with/using/an object to
    teach? How might we incorporate forms of the "object lesson" into
    our classrooms?
  * How do things perform? What kinds of agencies, energies, and
    directions do objects enact on stages, in site-specific
    environments, during artistic events, behind the scenes, and in our
    research (archival, ethnographic, performance-led)?
  * What are the stakes of analyzing an object on its own (as a solo
    actor or single performance event) vs. as part of a larger network
    or collection (a stage, geographical site, festival, archive, etc.)?
    What are the benefits and limitations of each approach?
  * What theoretical frameworks and methodologies are theatre and
    performance scholars using when they look at things? How might we
    map the different genealogies that inform thingcentric scholarship
    today?

*Format:*
We invite 500-word proposals (as MS Word attachments) that include an 
abstract for your ASTR paper and how it relates to your broader creative 
and/or scholarly work. Include full contact information and 
organizational affiliation (if any) on both your proposal and your 
email---and send your proposal to both conveners by June 3, 2013. 
Following participant selection, conveners will circulate initial 
discussion questions and a working bibliography with which participants 
will be expected to engage. Full 10-12-page papers should be submitted 
to the conveners by October 1, 2013. Prior to our Dallas meeting, 
assigned small groups will interact with one another (via email) with 
the expectation that everyone will provide detailed feedback on each 
group member's paper. Conveners will distribute a set of session 
discussion questions and tentative agenda by late October. We plan to 
stay in touch after Dallas to discuss future conference and publication 
opportunities, building a research network.

-- 
Marlis Schweitzer
Associate Professor
Department of Theatre
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
416-736-2100 x 66274



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/candrama/attachments/20130522/cce44136/attachment.html>