Given the discussion regarding theater . . .

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Natalya Baldyga <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed May 18, 2005  6:57:26  PM America/Los_Angeles
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: CFP: Theatre and Nat'l/Cultural Identity: Negotiating  
> Globalization and the Transnational (6/1/05; 11/11/05-11/13/05)
>
> CFP: "Theatre and National/Cultural Identity: Negotiating  
> Globalization and
> the Transnational" (6/1/05; 11/11/05-11/13/05)
>
>
> ASTR NATIONAL IDENTITY / NATIONAL CULTURE RESEARCH GROUP
> 2005 AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THEATRE RESEARCH
> ANNUAL CONFERENCE
>
> Delta Chelsea Hotel, Toronto, Ontario Canada
> NOVEMBER 10-13, 2005
>
>
> The National Identity / National Culture research group focuses on the
> interplay between culture and national identity as a way of  
> investigating
> the political and social effects of theatre as both a legitimizing and  
> a
> challenging art form. Building on successful meetings at the 2003 and  
> 2004
> ASTR Annual Conferences, the research group seeks to fulfill its  
> mandate in
> providing research support to its membership, alternative  
> methodologies for
> the study of national culture, and ongoing exploration of issues  
> related to
> national identity.
>
> In response to feedback and requests following last years meeting,  
> this
> years gathering will have a more finely focused topic, allowing  
> scholars
> of theatre and performance to bring diverse approaches and  
> perspectives to
> bear on the complex issue of national/cultural identity within
> transnational systems (such as global commerce, religion, internet
> communities, etc.).
>
> For the 2005 conference, the National Identity / National Culture  
> Research
> Group invites scholars to submit proposals for a two-hour session of  
> large
> and small group discussions, 7:30-9:30 PM, Saturday, November 12.
>
> *********************************************************************** 
> ****
> ***
>
> "Theatre and National/Cultural Identity: Negotiating Globalization and  
> the
> Transnational"
>
> We understand the fatal diagnoses of Western cultural exhaustion and
> postmodern fragmentation. We understand the fatal diagnoses by  
> postcolonial
> critics of appropriation and imbalances in power relations. We believe,
> however, that the cross-cultural or intercultural transactions of many
> theatre artists are, and have been, more complex and fluctuating than  
> these
> discourses allow, suggesting a fluidity in cultural formation processes
> that ought to critique customary paradigms of static or fixed
> national/cultural identities. Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai speaks of  
> the
> "diasporic public spheres" of a postnational political order, whose  
> engines
> are the mass media and the migrations of peoples (Modernity At Large).
>
> The contemporary phenomenon of globalization, from networked capitalist
> economies to international theatre festivals, has transformed and  
> continues
> to transform the traditional means by which national/cultural  
> identities
> have been constituted and performed. During the past several decades,
> communication technologies have played major roles in accelerating this
> process. If globalization has meant a welcome wealth of intercultural
> contact, it has also sometimes tested the limits of the ways we  
> conceive of
> community and perhaps human subjectivity itself. Whether lauded or
> vilified, globalization is a fact of contemporary life. As cultural
> anthropologist Nistor Garcia Canclini has observed, "Today all  
> cultures are
> border cultures" (Consumers and Citizens, Globalization and  
> Multicultural
> Conflicts).
>
> Although the scale and rapidity of globalization is new, there are  
> numerous
> examples of cross-cultural drama and performance from earlier  
> historical
> moments that have required a negotiation with other transnational  
> forces,
> systems, and discourses. Joe Roach has shown, for example, that early
> American drama and performance were already cross-cultural, while  
> Marvin
> Carlson notes that the theatre has a nearly universal tradition of  
> being
> macaronic, calling to mind theatres fundamental discursive hybridity  
> (East
> of West, ed. Claire Sponsler and Xiamei Chen).
>
> Participants should bring to the table instances of theatre practices  
> on
> the borders, so to speak, addressing:
> -- ideas and examples of performance and drama that complicate the
> discourse in our field about how theatre artists of different nations  
> and
> cultures are negotiating this era of globalization; or,
> -- means by which performance and drama have participated historically  
> in
> the negotiation of cultural identity within transnational structures,
> discourses, and boundaries
> Whether it be historical or contemporary, we are looking for work that
> critiques terms (such as periodization) in which historians have framed
> national/cultural drama and performance.
>
> *********************************************************************** 
> ****
> *
>
> Please send proposals of no more than 250 words to the co-conveners by  
> 1
> June, 2005. Participants will be expected to submit full papers of no  
> more
> than 12 pages in the early fall, to initiate pre-conference e-mail
> discussion.
>
> 2005 co-conveners:
> -- Natalya Baldyga ([log in to unmask])
> -- Gary J. Williams ([log in to unmask])
> -- Evan Darwin Winet ([log in to unmask])
>
>          ==========================================================
>               From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
>                         [log in to unmask]
>                          Full Information at
>                      http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
>          or write Jennifer Higginbotham: [log in to unmask]
>          ==========================================================
>
Beth Wightman
Assistant Professor of English
California State University, Northridge
[log in to unmask]