CFP on Women and Science in Performance (CATR 2010)

[Lourdes Arciniega]

Canadian Association for Theatre Research Conference - Montreal (May 2010)

Seminar 1: Women and Science in Performance

Abstract  Over the years countless plays have used science to rationalize
patriarchal ideologies  and the staging of women as ‘naturally’
compassionate, nurturing, emotional, weak, and  subordinate. Because of
this, feminists have traditionally been suspicious of any recourse to the
question of science, particularly the biological and medical sciences.
However, recent feminist  theorists, such as Elizabeth Grosz and Donna
Haraway, have called for a reevaluation of the  ways that science has
been, is being, and can be deployed to critique conventional “relations of
 domination and subordination between races and sexes” (Grosz 33).
Responding to this  challenge, theatre scholars have begun to look back to
historical plays and performances to  develop a more nuanced understanding
of the ways that science has been molded to align with  the ever-changing
roles of women in society. Likewise, contemporary playwrights and
performers have deployed science in their own work explicitly to critique
traditional patriarchal  ideologies and redefine gender identity.  For
this seminar we welcome papers concerning the general topic of women and
science in performance. We are particularly interested in papers that
examine how science is  deployed by twentieth-century playwrights and
performers in their representations of women,  femininity, mothers and
motherhood, women’s “nature,” fertility, reproduction, and relations
between men and women. We also welcome papers that expand on current
Feminist Science  Studies, including the challenges of multi-disciplinary
research. Keeping in mind the conference  theme of “Interconnected
knowledge,” we are interested in ways that plays or performances
participate in the dissemination and debate of scientific theories that
explicitly concern women  and “women’s issues.”

Questions:
1.  To what ends have feminist playwrights and performers deployed science
in their work?
2.  How have theories of evolution been used in the representations of women?
3.  How have plays or performances either questioned or supported
traditional scientific  thinking about “women’s nature”?
4.  How do artificial reproduction technologies impact the performance of
the female in  contemporary drama?
5.  How is the perception of “motherhood” affected by new reproductive
technologies?

Working Plan
Interested participants are asked to submit 250-word abstracts to Lourdes
Arciniega  (mlarcini at ucalgary.ca) and/or James Lange (jlange at ucalgary.ca)
by December 1, 2009. The  seminar leaders will choose ten participants who
will be notified of their acceptance by January  20, 2010. Seminar
participants will then be asked to submit an 8-10 page paper on a topic
relevant to the discussion by March 22, 2010. The seminar leaders will
also submit papers. The  papers will be posted on a wetpaint.com webpage
designed specifically for this seminar.  Participants will be required to
familiarize themselves with the other participants’ papers prior to the
conference, and all will be invited to use the wetpaint.com site to
comment on individual  papers, discuss issues and topics arising from the
papers, and propose topics for discussion at  the conference. The seminar
leaders will prioritize and distribute topics for discussion two  weeks
prior to the conference. At the conference itself the seminar will be
organized as a  roundtable and we will discuss and debate the topics and
issues that emanate from the papers.

Lourdes Arciniega
PhD student
Department of English
University of Calgary
Social Sciences 1127
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4





Lourdes Arciniega
PhD student
Department of English
University of Calgary
Social Sciences 1127
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4