Theatre and Internationalisation. Negotiating Mobility, Belonging and Diversity.
The second Macquarie University symposium on Theatre and Internationalisation hosted by German Studies (Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature) invites abstracts for papers that address the themes of Negotiating Mobility, Belonging and Diversity. In line with our successful 2019 conference on Theatre and Internationalisation, this one-day symposium on 29 November 2022 focuses on internationalisation as a phenomenon that has affected and continues to affect both the processes and aesthetics of theatre, and how theatre responds dramatically and thematically to internationalisation in the world beyond the stage. We invite papers that investigate internationalisation as a complex process that is marked by a set of interlocking international flows of influence, practices, people, languages, funds and works, as well as personal (inter)cultural encounters and cultural transfers. We welcome both theoretically focused interventions into current discussions about internationalisation and theatre and papers that approach these issues through examples of historical and contemporary practices. Our aim is to bring to light aspects of the internationalisation of theatre and to explore critical tools with which to approach the complex interactions among those involved in creating and receiving theatre.
Our focus is primarily (but not exclusively) on case studies from Australia and the German-speaking countries, cultures on opposite sides of the Earth with a long history of mutual theatrical interactions and influences, and theatre in its widest sense, including amateur theatre, musicals and opera.
We welcome papers that discuss topics such as
- mobility, transit and exile as (trans)cultural lenses and artistic practices that create innovative theoretical frameworks for approaching theatre.
- theatre and belonging in local, glocal and global contexts.
- past and present multilingual theatre that explores language use as representation and as literary strategy.
- approaches to cultural and linguistic diversity in the professional, independent and amateur performing arts.
- approaches that draw on or provoke interdisciplinary dialogues to create innovative frameworks for understanding encounters with unfamiliar people and cultures in the context of theatre.
- case studies of practical initiatives in the areas of audience engagement and accessibility.
Please provide a 250-word abstract and short bio to both Ulrike Garde and John Severn by 17 October 2022, at ulrike.garde@mq.edu.au and john.severn@mq.edu.au.
The symposium is part of a Universities Australia/DAAD Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme project between Macquarie University and Leipzig University and is supported by Macquarie University’s Global Literatures and Cultures and Research in the Economics of the Arts, Culture and Heritage research streams, the Multilingualism Research Centre and the Creative Documentary Research Centre.
Ulrike Garde (ulrike.garde@mq.edu.au) and John Severn (john.severn@mq.edu.au)