Conveners: Brenda Werth and Paola Hernández
In this work group, we will revisit key twentieth-century theatrical paradigms traditionally associated with the promotion of critical consciousness and strategies for social, cultural, and political intervention. Our objective is to explore and reassess paradigms such as Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdung, Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed, and anthropologist Victor Turner's social dramas in an emerging global framework. To this end we will consider the adoption of multilateral cultural and social networks, the establishment of international recognition and jurisdiction of human rights, the revision of physical and virtual borders, and changing notions of citizenship. In effect, and in the broadest sense possible, our workgroup seeks to re-conceptualize the relationship between the stage and the world as it is framed through contemporary theater in the Americas. We are particularly interested in studying the ways in which theater constructs spaces and bodies, imagines performative frameworks, highlights tension between competing paradigms, and promotes critical dialogue on the subject of cultural rights.
Format
The group will accept a maximum of 15 participants. We invite interested participants to send an abstract of 250 words. In this session, we request that each participant submit a paper (10 pages or more) to circulate in the forum and later present during our workgroup session in Bogotá. We will be sending a critical bibliography and readings ahead of time to participants.
Biographies
Brenda Werth is a specialist in contemporary Latin American Theatre and Southern Cone Studies. Her areas of interest include Argentine theatre and film, memory studies, and theories of spectatorship. She is an assistant professor of Latin American Studies and Spanish at American University in Washington DC.
Paolo Hernández is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Book Review Editor for Latin American Theatre Review. Her field of research is Latin American theatre and performance, with an emphasis on issues of identity, memory, trauma, and nation building.
Participants
Brenda WerthBretton White
Camilla Stevens
Carolina Caballero S.
Carolina Goth
Carolina Ramírez
Cristian Briceño
César Mathus González
Horacio Lecona
Jorge Louraço Figueira
Laisvie Andrea Ochoa
María Rebeca Padilla de la Torre
Meran Vargens
Paola Hernández
Paulina Avellaneda
Vesna Milanovic