Call for contributions
The Performance Studies canon is permeated by works devised to empower publics. The participatory work of Boal, Conquergood and others draws on lived experience to access joy, pain and deeply held beliefs, ultimately devising narratives that contain the power to refashion old and imagine new institutions. This work is continued throughout the world in applied theater, deeply impacted by the writing of Frantz Fanon, bell hooks and Audre Lorde, and newly visioned by performance artists such as Shaun Leonardo and Regina José Galindo. How can we draw on these facilities, many of which we teach, to deepen and broaden our engagement with our own institutions? How can we use disciplinary resources to expand academic imagination? But also, which extra-disciplinary narratives do we meet with as our reach expands and how do those impact pedagogies?
Education policies are extra-disciplinary narratives in the shape of rules and recommendations that configure higher education in cultural, political and economic contexts. Education policies affect how we understand, codify and enact freedoms of speech; create curricular structures and contents; assess and frame research; design and implement pedagogies; cap and schedule classes; recruit students; hire colleagues; request and allocate resources; and much more. This plays out differently across universities globally, with varying stakes in play.
For its first in-person meeting since its renewed formation in 2021, the PSi working group Performance and Pedagogy is soliciting short responses from diverse global contexts, narrating student, staff, instructor, leadership and hybrid role holder experiences at the intersection of Performance Studies, Pedagogy, and Education Policy. Which challenges are you facing? What is changing? Can you share salient examples? Which issues would you like to compare notes about? What are you already working on? Where do you see opportunities?
We are envisioning a three-part session in which 1) the presentation of several key reports or snapshots is followed by 2) a semi-structured exchange of experiences among all attendees that may 3) culminate in any number of ways to record shared interests, mutual support, new imaginaries for institutional communication, publications, and more. All are welcome to attend.
To contribute to the first part of the session, please send a brief outline (200 words max, one image if desired) for a 5-10 minute report or snapshot to per.ped.psi@gmail.com, by April 20, 2024. Collaborations are welcome. We will respond by April 27, 2024. The convening will take place June 20-23 in London. Date and time for our session is TBD as PSi develops the final schedule. Attendees will need to purchase tickets and PSi membership.
In addition we are soliciting input into future topics PSi membership is interested in addressing through the working group Performance and Pedagogy. Future topics prompts and suggestions are welcome anytime. We will post more information as it becomes available. Please look for updates here: https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=2653191
Organized by Vanessa Damilola Macaulay, Leigh Anne Howard and Adelheid Mers (coordinator)
Adelheid Mers