Performance History Seminar CFP

[Heather Davis-Fisch]

Hello Everyone,

Just a very quick reminder of the Call for Papers below for the Performance History Seminar on Performance Historiographies that Stephen Johnson, Heather Davis-Fisch and I are organizing at CATR 2015.  We would absolutely love to receive your proposals by the deadline of January 15!  Many thanks, and hope you are all well,

Very best,
Roberta

Call for Participants:
Performance History Seminar: Performance Historiographies 
Organizers: Roberta Barker, Heather Davis-Fisch, Stephen Johnson

Recent scholarship in hemispheric studies, globalization, critical theory, and Indigenous studies—to name just a few fields—has challenged the nationalist, genealogical, and canonical approaches to historiography that have often dominated Canadian theatre history. Proposals are invited for a seminar investigating the following questions: How were performance and theatre histories constructed in the past, especially in the lands now known as Canada, and what do these histories tell us about both the past and their own moments of creation? How are performative and historical writing mutually informative; in other words, in what ways does performance constitute a form of historical writing and in what ways is historical writing, as Greg Dening suggests in Performances, fundamentally performative (34)? What strategies do we employ in order to textualize the messy remains of the performative past, “wrangling” disorderly events into coherent (and academically acceptable) narratives?

Contributions that consider these questions in relation to non-theatrical or extra-theatrical performances, transnational/international performance, pre-1967 performance, francophone theatre and performance histories, intercultural, diasporic, and Indigenous performance are particularly welcome. At the same time, we are open to proposals that approach the question of historiography more broadly or from a range of other frameworks; please do not hesitate to contact the organizers if you have an idea you wish to discuss before submitting your initial proposal. We welcome proposals from graduate students, emerging scholars and seasoned veterans.

Participants will be required to submit “working papers” approximately 1500 words in length by 15 April 2015. These papers will be posted to a password protected, secure website for viewing by participants and conference registrants. We will divide participants into sub-groups and participants will be asked to read and make brief responses to each of the papers submitted by the members of their sub-groups by 15 May. Following this, sub-groups will generate questions to discuss when they meet in person and will be asked (but not required) to read papers submitted by members of other sub- groups. The seminar at CATR/ARCT will allow participants to continue discussions with their sub-groups and share the concerns of their sub-groups with the entire seminar group. Papers will not be read during the seminar.

Please submit initial proposals of not more than 250 words, along with a brief biography, to all three organizers: barkerr at dal.ca; heather.davisfisch at ufv.ca; stephen.johnson at utoronto.ca. Proposals are due on 15 January 2015. We also welcome questions in advance of submitting a proposal; please direct questions to Roberta Barker at barkerr at dal.ca.
 494-1495
barkerr at dal.ca