[Candrama] IFTR 2027: CFP Performance and Migration Working Group

[Yana Meerzon]

IFTR 2027: Performance and Migration Working Group
Convenors: Yana Meerzon (University of Ottawa); Sheetala Bhat (York University); Steve Wilmer (Trinity College, Dublin).
For inquiries, please contact: iftr.performance.migration at gmail.com<mailto:iftr.performance.migration at gmail.com>
CALL FOR PAPERS 2027
“Hybrid Mobilities: Researching Performance and Migration” (in response to the IFTR 2027 theme<https://iftr.org/conference-2027/>)
Responding to the 2027 IFTR World Congress theme, Hybridity: Rethinking Borders and Boundaries in Theatre/Performance and Beyond, the Performance and Migration Working Group invites proposals that examine the intersections of migration, mobility, borders, and performance through the lens of hybridity and innovative methodologies for researching and creating theatre in contexts of migration.
The Working Group welcomes contributions that investigate theatre and performance in contexts of migration, exile, displacement, diaspora, multilingualism, border crossings, and transnational mobility. We are especially interested in papers that reflect critically not only on what migratory performance does, but also on how it is created, documented, analysed, archived, and theorized. As performance increasingly unfolds across multiple languages, media, political realities, and cultural contexts, what methodological approaches enable us to research and make theatre in migratory conditions?
We welcome proposals that explore theatre and performance in relation to migration, exile, displacement, diaspora, borders, and mobility. Contributions may address multilingual and intercultural performance, artistic and practice-based research, archives and memory, digital and hybrid performance, pedagogies of migration, hospitality, belonging, and cultural translation. We encourage diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, including interdisciplinary, ethnographic, archival, digital, decolonial, collaborative, and community-engaged approaches.
Greece—as a historical and contemporary crossroads of migration, cultural exchange, and geopolitical transformation—provides a particularly rich setting for exploring these questions. We particularly encourage proposals that examine migration and performance in Greece, the Mediterranean, and other border regions as sites of cultural encounter, transit, displacement, hospitality, conflict, and belonging—spaces where identities, histories, and communities are continually negotiated, contested, and reimagined through performance.
Abstracts
Please submit an abstract of 200–250 words. We encourage applicants to indicate:

  *   the research methodology informing the project;
  *   the geographical, historical, political, and cultural context of the research;
  *   any interdisciplinary, collaborative, or practice-based dimensions of the work.

Presentation Formats
Applicants are invited to indicate their preferred presentation format.
Working Group Seminar
The Performance and Migration Working Group follows a collaborative seminar model. Participants are organized into small discussion groups, whose members circulate and read one another’s papers before the conference. During the conference, each participant gives a concise 5–7-minute presentation highlighting the paper’s central argument, methodology, and principal findings. The presentation is followed by an extended discussion, allowing substantial time for collective feedback and exchange. This format emphasizes dialogue, peer review, and the development of works in progress.
Open Paper Panel
Applicants may indicate their preference for presenting a traditional 20-minute conference paper as part of an IFTR Open Panel. Because the number of Open Panel places is limited, proposals submitted for this format may, in consultation with the conveners, be transferred to the Working Group Seminar if accepted.
Please indicate your preferred presentation format when submitting your abstract.
The conveners hope that papers developed through the Working Group will contribute to a future edited collection on research methodologies in performance and migration in the Palgrave Studies in Performance and Migration series.
We welcome proposals from scholars, artists, practitioners, independent researchers, and postgraduate students at all career stages. Applicants eligible for the IFTR New Scholars Forum should consult the New Scholars page for submission details. First-time IFTR attendees who qualify as New Scholars are encouraged to apply through that stream.
Submission Information
Abstract submission will open through the IFTR Conference website on 1 October 2026<https://iftr.org/conference-2027/>. Please note that you must be an IFTR member to submit an abstract or register for the conference.
Key dates

  *   Membership registration opens: 1 October 2026
  *   Abstract submissions open: 1 October 2026
  *   Deadline for abstract submissions: 2 November 2026
  *   Notification of acceptance: 21 December 2026
  *   Accommodation discounts: 1 January–14 February 2027 (early booking is strongly recommended, as Nafplio is a popular tourist destination).

Cordially,
Yana, Steve and Sheetala

Yana Meerzon

Professeure titulaire| Full Professor

Directrice des études théâtrales | Director of Theatre Studies

Département de théâtre | Department of Theatre
Université d’Ottawa | University of Ottawa
135 Séraphin-Marion, bureau 304B
Ottawa (ON), Canada, K1N 6N5

https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/270

Editor. Critical Stages/Scènes critiques<http://www.critical-stages.org/19/the-essay-section-la-section-des-essais/>
Co-Editor. Palgrave Studies in Performance and Migration (book series)<https://www.springer.com/series/17066>






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