CALL FOR PAPERS - IFTR THEATRE HISTORIOGRAPHY WORKING GROUP 9th July – 13th July 2018, Belgrade Studio-laboratory for performing arts, Faculty of Dramatic Arts

The IFTR Historiography Working Group will be meeting during the IFTR conference in Belgrade, Serbia, 9-13 July 2018. The working group welcomes papers from new and existing members dealing with any possible period or topic in theatre history, but as the group is dedicated to theatre historiography, authors are asked to focus on methodological and epistemological problems related to the history of theatre and performance. Historiographical questions discussed by participants may be illustrated through specific case examples, and there are no restrictions on the historical time or place a proposal might involve or on the kind of historiographical approach explored.

 The Historiography Working Group welcomes, but does not confine itself, to papers addressing the theme of the conference. The general theme of the 2018 conference, “Theatre, Nation and Identity: Between Migration and Stasis”, has various critical implications for theatre historiography, which in recent years has seen an interrogation of national histories and an increasing recognition of the need to rethink our arrangement of the historical record to account for inter-, intra- and transnational histories, including those of immigrant and refugee theatres. As presented in the convenors’ description, this year's conference theme aims to address the topic of Theatre and Migration in broad terms, asking “How have theatre and performance responded to issues of exile, displacement and Otherness both historically and in our times? How has the process of migration been shaped and reshaped through various political, social, cultural and artistic scenarios? How can the notion of migration be employed to grapple with issues of cultural cross-fertilization, transfer, appropriation and mutation?  What constitute ecologies of migration in theatre and performance (and beyond)?” See the announcement of the conference for a full elaboration of the topic and subthemes, on the IFTR website at iftr.org.

 The Historiography Working Group works by circulating papers to members in advance of the conference for in-depth discussion in sessions at the conference. The aim of the group’s discussion is always to be constructive. Submissions are normally linked to a research project that the author currently has in progress. There are two possibilities:

 a) Scholars share a work in progress, usually an article or book chapter excerpt (5000-word limit), framed by historiographical questions. They are invited to speak for not more than ten minutes about the context in which they have written their pieces, and about historiographical points where they would particularly welcome a response. (Participants take care to read all the papers carefully, so an oral summary of the paper is discouraged.) The group spends about 20 minutes discussing each paper, and the emphasis of the discussion is upon historiographical method rather than the detail of the content.

 b) Scholars share a short essay (2000-word limit) that takes up a specific historiographical problem, possibly in response to the conference or convening theme. This might be a think piece or provocation. The shorter papers will be grouped together in panels within the working group and discussed collectively to encourage discussion across themes and problems.

 

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted by the deadline of January 15, 2018 via the Cambridge Core website, indicating that you are submitting to the Historiography Working Group. Please indicate whether you are proposing a 2,000 word or 5,000 word paper and include in your abstract a clear statement about the historiographical questions raised by the work.

 The Working Group convenors will select proposals that best fit the historiographical theme of our group. We particularly welcome proposals from new scholars and from scholars outside Europe. If we cannot accommodate your paper, we will refer it to the conference organizers for possible placement on a general panel.

The full text of the selected paper (a) no more than 5000 words / b) no more than 2000 words) should be emailed to the conveners by June 1, 2018, for uploading to the group’s website. For further information please do not hesitate to contact one of the convenors.

Information about the group can be found on http://theaterhistoriography.wordpress.com/

Please share this call for papers with any colleagues or research students whom you think may be interested. The current conveners of the Historiography Working Group are

 

Nora Probst (nora.probst@uni-koeln.de) University of Cologne

Jo Robinson (jo.robinson@nottingham.ac.uk) University of Nottingham

Rashna Nicholson (R.Nicholson@lmu.de) Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich