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“Cold War University” – special issue of the open access online Journal of Global Theatre History fresh from the digital press


We are delighted to announce that we just published a new issue of our online Journal of Global Theatre History: The recent edition is dedicated on the topic of “Cold War University” and comes with 80 pages full of great content. The edition is the outcome of an international workshop on “Cold War University: Humanities and Arts Education as a (Battle)field of Diplomatic Influence and Decolonial Practice”, organized in fall 2020 by the ERC project Developing Theatre (GA No. 694559) under the auspices of Judith Rottenburg and Lisa Skwirblies

The issue addresses epistemological questions from historical, geopolitical, and institutional perspectives by investigating the reciprocal influence of Cold War politics and the conceptualization of universities. The contributors elaborate on the role Cold War politics played in the development of the university and arts education – in particular theatre education – as we understand them today; and, conversely, the role that the university and arts education – again, in particular theatre education – played in Cold War politics and the politics of decolonization that formed part of it.

Contributors: 

Nic Leonhardt: Editorial

Judith Rottenburg & Lisa Skwirblies (guest editors):” Cold War University. Humanities and Arts Education as a (Battle)field of Diplomatic Influence and Decolonial Practice”

Christopher Balme: “Arts and the University: Institutional logics in the developing world and beyond”

Gideon I. Morison: “Undercurrents of Anglo-American Collaboration: Funding, Training and Cold War Influences on the Theatre Studies Curriculum of Selected Nigerian Universities” 

Hasibe Kalkan: “On the Role of the Rockefeller Foundation in Establishing Theatre Education Programmes and Transnational Theatrical Spaces in Turkey during the Cold War” 

Lisa Skwirblies: “Performing the Politics of Non-Alignment in Cold War Germany”

Viviana Iacob: “The University of the Theatre of Nations: Explorations into Cold War Exchanges” 

The journal is fully open access.

We wish our readers an insightful and inspiring read.

_________________________

The Journal of Global Theatre History is published twice a year. We continuously accept paper proposals on the global history of theatre as well as papers addressing the globalization of theatre. Questions regarding the Journal can be sent to the editors, Nic Leonhardt & Christopher Balme (Nic.Leonhardt@lrz.uni-muenchen.de). 

Call for Papers: Theatre for Development (TfD): Historical and Institutional Perspectives.

Pretoria, South Africa, 16-20 March, 2020

International Conference, organized by ERC project Developing Theatre: Building Expert Networks for Theatre in Emerging Countries after 1945 & Department of Drama & Film Studies, Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa.

In March 2020, the ERC funded project Developing Theatre: Building Expert Networks for Theatre in Emerging Countries after 1945 at LMU Munich will be organizing an international conference in collaboration with Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa on the topic Theatre for Development (TfD): Historical and Institutional Perspectives.

The thrust of the conference will be to contextualize the emergence of TfD, especially in the first decades in Africa. From its early beginnings in the 1970s under different nomenclatures and practices –“popular theatre”, “community theatre” – TfD quickly transformed itself into a coherent organizational field capable of attracting significant governmental and NGO funding. It also affected a change in the teaching and practice of theatre studies in many African countries. The argument could be made that the success of TfD in the Global South has contributed significantly to the emergence of Applied Theatre as a sub discipline in many Global North countries.

This conference seeks to explore the genealogy, the varied contexts of its development, theories and institutional perspectives. Key issues the conference will interrogate include the varied manifestations of the genre and its influence across cultures and continents; funding (Governmental and NGOs), networks of individuals and institutions that propelled its rapid growth and acceptance within academic and non-academic contexts.

We welcome contributions which engage with and provoke dialogue about the historiography of the Theatre for Development paradigm. Topics might include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Historiography and Archiving of Theatre for Development
  • Periodization and diffusion
  • Seminal figures and initiators
  • The dialectics of Africa’s development and Theatre for Development
  • Integrating (new) media into TfD
  • The politics of funding (governmental and NGOs) and influence on TfD
  • Theories, Training and TfD Practitioners
  • Theatre for Development within and outside the academia
  • Networks, institutions and organizations
  • Critical reflections within the field
  • Brecht, Freire, Boal and the emergence of TfD

Deadline 30th May 2019
Reply to:
Abdul Karim Hakib
Doctoral ResearcherERC Project “Developing Theatre”, Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, LMU München
email: Hakib.Karim@lmu.de

Vorschau(öffnet in neuem Tab)

CfP IFTR Working Group Digital Humanities in Theatre Research, 9-13 July, 2018, Belgrade, Serbia

The Working Group Digital Humanities in Theatre Research of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) will be meeting at the next annual IFTR conference at the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, 9-13 July, 2018. The call for papers can be downloaded here.

We are soliciting papers and project presentations that represent the full range of experience theatre scholars and practitioners have with Digital Humanities.

We are especially interested in topics that:

  • Introduce important digital humanities projects in theatre and performance studies.
  • Examine the theoretical implications of Digital Humanities for our research into theatre and performance
  • Explore new methodologies in theatre research based on digital technologies
  • Focus on digital theatre history and historiography
  • Discuss best practices for digital humanities projects in theatre and performance
  • Elaborate on innovations in academic curricula in theatre and performance studies inspired by the Digital Humanities
  • Investigate the challenges of crowdsourcing or the use of “citizen scholars” in Digital Humanities research.

Working groups are not required to address the theme of an IFTR conference but papers which enter into conversation with the theme are most welcome. The theme of the 2018 conference will be Theatre and Migration. Theatre, Nation and Identity: between Migration and Stasis.

Abstracts are due by Monday, 15 January, 2018 and are to be submitted through the Cambridge Core website https://www.cambridge.org/core/membership/iftr where you can also find information on IFTR membership and a link to the conference website with full details of the conference.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the WG convenors,

Nic Leonhardt (LMU Munich, Director, Centre of Global Theatre History & Academy for DH in Theatre; ERC project Developing Theatre, LMU)  n.leonhardt@lmu.de & nic.leonhardt@gmx.de

Franklin J. Hildy (University of Maryland): hildy@umd.edu

see you in Belgrade ! 

CfP: “Philanthropy, Development, and the Arts”, International Conference, 23-25 July, 2018

From 23-25 July, 2018, our ERC funded project Developing Theatre will be hosting its first international conference with a special focus on Philanthropy, Development and the Arts: Histories and Theories. At the conference, we seek to interrogate the impact of philanthropy on the field of arts – visual arts, theatre, music, dance, opera, drama education, etc. –  between the 19th and 21st centuries. The conference aims at discussing the work, impact, successes and failures of private and corporate philanthropy and NGOs, including semi-statist organizations such as the Goethe Institut, or the British Council, from the perspectives of history, cultural history, political sciences, art and theatre history.

We are looking for paper proposals addressing the following aspects:

  • Shifting discourses of philanthropy in respect to arts and cultural funding
  • Philanthropic and NGO initiatives in the arts in countries such as Africa, India, Chile, etc.
  • From colonialism to philanthropy: the de/re-colonization of cultural aid
  • Philanthropy vs./ the state: how non-governmental can non-governmental organizations be?
  • Case studies on the private funding of arts and artists with a special focus on development
  • Case studies on field officers, representatives and ‘arts experts’ in charge of philanthropic foundations and NGOs
  • Soft power: arts philanthropy and cultural diplomacy
  • Other related topics will also be considered.

The complete call for papers can be downloaded  here.

Deadline for paper proposals: 30 November, 2017.

The conference will take place from Monday, 23 to Wednesday, 25 July, 2018 at Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, Munich.

A preliminary programme will be available by spring 2018.

For any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact PD Dr Nic Leonhardt, Associate Director of the Developing Theatre Project: n.leonhardt@lmu.de.