The Theatre History and Historiography group is dedicated to the exploration and investigation of theatre history using the methodologies and approaches developed in recent years by the New Theatre Historiography movement. The purpose of this group is to discuss work in progress, closely analysing the ways in which evidence, documentation, interpretation, theory and speculation contribute to Theatre History today and open up new and provocative questions about the way we explore the theatrical past on both macro- and micro-levels. The group welcomes new and experienced scholars with an interest in these concerns and follows a procedure in which papers are circulated in advance of the TaPRA Conference to group members, are summarised verbally by contributors at panel sessions and are then thrown open for discussion. Our focus is not so much on the presentation of finished work as on the discussion and enablement of work that is still in process.
Call for Papers 2008
Proposals for papers on the theme of ‘Bodies of Evidence/ Bodies as Evidence’ are invited for discussion at the 2008 conference. What is a body of evidence? By what process is it perceived to accumulate around a significant event, phenomenon, structure or mechanism in theatre history? How is it constructed or identified historiographically, and what happens if the body of evidence constructed by one generation of historians is then reconfigured and renegotiated by another? In contemplating the material remains which historians traditionally rely on to supply evidence, what is the place of the subjective or imaginary response? What is the place of disciplinary or technological innovation in re-imagining, re-visioning and thus possibly re-experiencing the ‘body’ of long-vanished evidence? Finally how can the human body itself - whether in contemporary practical exploration and testing, or in the visual representation or verbal recollection of the lived experience of past performance - be considered a site of evidence?
These and other questions may be debated in papers of no more than four thousand words which should be completed and circulated to members of the group no later than two weeks before the meeting. As has been the practice hitherto, participants may use material from individual research projects to illustrate their argument, but should be aware that the purpose of the group is to consider wider historiographic concerns about methods and models of historical discourse. Short position or problem papers are acceptable, as are papers written by research students who wish to test the viability of proposed research questions.
Please send brief proposals (max 500 words) to the Working Group Co-Convenors
Co-convenors
| Jo Robinson | Claire Cochrane |
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