TH336: Contemporary European Theatre: Representations, Ethics, Politics 2017/18
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Key details 4 items
Convenor/Tutor: Dr Milija Gluhovic (M.Gluhovic@warwick.ac.uk; Tel. 024 765 74773)
Timetable: Mondays 15.30-17.30; Room G56 in Milburn House
Office hours: Mondays 14.30-15.30 (or by appointment), Room F04A Milburn House, 2nd floor
Module Description
The module set out to explore a broad constellation of recent European plays, performances, and films originating from different parts of Europe, which address the changing historical, political and cultural realities of Europe in the wake of the Iron Curtain's collapse and the fall of communism in 1989. Specifically, the module aims to engage with the following pressing issues and concerns: How does theatre articulate Europe's new sociocultural space, shaped and negotiated by the experiences of war, exile and the shifting contours of Europe's borders and territories? How do European artists witness and respond to the current refugee crisis and stories of fraught Mediterranean crossings as migration becomes the defining issue of this century? How does performance address the complex issues of right-wing nationalism, the ongoing financial crisis, and social justice now that the EU faces the biggest crisis since its foundation? What are the ways in which performance takes part in the current debates in Europe concerning secularism, the rise of religious extremism, and fears about national security in the aftermath of the events such as the London bombings and the Paris attacks? How does theatre engage with the traumatic experiences of the Holocaust, the Stalinist Gulags, colonialism and imperialism, and current preoccupations with the politics of memory in Europe? We shall also explore aspects of European cultural policy, cosmopolitan stages of European theatre festivals as well as some popular expressions of "Europeannes" such as the Eurovision Song Contest as a site where cultural struggles over the meaning, frontiers, and limits of Europe are enacted.Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of contemporary European theatrical practice in the light of cultural, political, historical, and philosophical issues across Europe in both historical and contemporary context, by way of making use of interpretative frameworks introduced or extended in the module. They should also be able to demonstrate an enlarged appreciation of the distinctiveness of European cultural contexts but also areas of commonality, as well as current political challenges facing Europe internationally. Furthermore, students should come away from this seminar with a new set of conceptual models and analytic tools to make use of in thinking about this complex and rich body of art.
Students will achieve these learning outcomes through close reading of primary and secondary material, seminar discussions based around prescribed texts and seminar papers on specific topics. In addition to film screening, performance recordings will be used to illustrate the theatrical dimensions of the plays. Weekly preparation prior to each seminar, based on set readings, will be crucial.
Assessment
Essay #1 20% (Autumn term)
Essay #2 20% (Spring term)
Research assignment/presentation 10%
Written Exam 3 hours 50% (Summer term; TBA)
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Course requirements 4 items
Attendance and participation in all weekly discussions.
Students are required to actively participate in discussions. While regular attendance is necessary to do well in this course, it is by no means sufficient. Your active participation in class is vital. You are expected to have completed all of the required readings for the day and engage in classroom discussions with intelligence, imagination and honesty. Both active listening to what others are saying and regular voicing of your own views, comments, and questions is an important measure of your progress in the course. Due to the nature of the material, the readings for some weeks will take longer than others.Research Assignment: Oral presentation based on a short analytical paper.
Students will be asked to compose one 1000- word (3-4 pages) paper related to the assigned readings and/or screenings. Students will have two different assignments to choose from. The first will ask you to compare a scholarly article's theory with a dramatic work's practice. The second will ask you to focus quite narrowly on some specific issue addressed in the assigned reading/screening, clearly state the author's position on that issue, and raise some critical questions about the author's position. In both cases you are expected to make connections with the thematic questions of the course and conclude by raising questions for discussion. A copy of the paper (as delivered ORALLY – not as different, "written" version) is to be handed in at the beginning of the class to the instructor and will be returned with comments on the substance and form of argument and on the expression (including the appropriateness of both for oral presentation and comprehension). The actual presentation will be judged on its effectiveness as an oral "performance" that effectively and engagingly presents a clear and interesting argument. There will be a brief question period after the paper, and the manner in which questions are dealt with will also be considered in grading.Research papers.
Students will be required to compose two research papers (3000 words each, double-spaced pages, Times New Roman 12 point font size, and standard margins) concerning one topic related to the course, subject to the approval. The papers must be solidly researched. Quality of scholarship, argument, and expression will be considered in determining the grade. The paper proposals must be submitted in advance. The due date of the papers will be announced later in the semester. A handout describing the research papers in detail, including suggested topics, will be distributed in class. Work is to be submitted by or on the due date. The assignment must be handed in on hardcopy.Exam:
A three-hour exam (Summer term).
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Autumn Term 53 itemsSubject to change.
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Week 1: Introduction to the course: framework, themes, and goals 1 item2 Oct. (Monday)
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Screening 1 itemIn class.
Eurovision Song Contest entries – various artists (screening in class of excerpts followed by discussion)
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Week 2: Singing Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest; (New) Europe as a Discourse 8 items9 October (Monday)
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Viewing 5 items(Some of the following)
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Eurovision Song Contest, Helsinki 2007 - 2007 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential
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Eurovision Song Contest, Kyiv 2005 - 2005 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential
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Eurovision Song Contest, Istanbul 2004 - 2004 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential
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Eurovision's Greatest Hits Friday, 3 Apr 2015
Audio-visual document essential
Or view some of the past ESCs on the YouTube.
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Reading 1 item
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Performing the "new" Europe: identities, feelings and politics in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Book essential Please read: Karen Fricker and Milija Gluhovic, “Introduction: Eurovision and the ‘New’ Europe,”, pp. 1-29.
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Suggested reading 2 items
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A song for Europe: popular music and politics in the Eurovision Song Contest - , c2007
Book recommended Please read: Ivan Raykoff, “Camping on the Border of Europe,"
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Eurovision Song Contest official website
Website recommended
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Week 3: The Performance and the Holocaust: Contexts, Ethics, Politics 9 items16 Oct. (Monday)
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Viewing 2 items
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The Dybbuk - , , , 2005 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential The original Yiddish-Polish film based on Sholom Anski's classic play about possession and exorcism (excerpt, 20 min.)
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Umarła klasa - , , , 2006 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential Excerpts from Tadeusz Kantor’s performance The Dead Class (1975).
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Reading 4 items
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Our class: a new play - , 2009
Book essential
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Webpage essential Reviews of the NT’s 2009-10 production of Our Class.
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Performing European memories: trauma, ethics, politics - 2013
Book essential Please read: Milija Gluhovic, “Introduction: Theorising Europe and Recollection,”, pp. 1-29.
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Working through Jan Gross's Neighbors - 2002
Article essential
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Suggested reading 3 items
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A European memory?: contested histories and politics of remembrance - , 2010
Book recommended Please read: Małgorzata Pakier and Bo Stråth, “Introduction: A European Memory,”, pp. 1-24.
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Imaginary neighbors: mediating Polish-Jewish relations after the Holocaust - , c2007
Book recommended Please read: Dorota Glowacka and Joanna Zylinska, “Introduction: Imaginary neighbours: Towards an Ethical Community,”, pp. 1-18.
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Katyn - , , , 2009 (videorecording)5021866457307
Audio-visual document recommended
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Week 4: Violence, Mourning and the Testimony 7 items23 Oct. (Monday)
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Viewing 1 itemIn class.
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80064 -
Audio-visual document essential 10 minutes.
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Reading 2 items
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Ashes to ashes - 1997, c1966
Book essential
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The witness in the archive: Holocaust Studies/ Memory Studies - , 05/2009
Article essential
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Suggested materials 4 items
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The night porter - , , 2006 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document recommended
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Shoah - , , c2007 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document recommended
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Trauma and Performance: Lessons from Latin America - 2006
Article recommended
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Projected Memory: Holocaust Photographs in Personal and Public Fantasy - 1999
Chapter recommended
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Week 5: European Memories: Lola Arias’ Minefield (Argentina/UK, 2016) and Afredo Sanzol’s On the Moon (Spain); guest in class Dr Simon Breden, U of Nottingham, tbc.) 5 items30 Oct. (Monday)
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Viewings 1 item
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Minefield - 2016
Audio-visual document essential Video recording of Lola Arias’ Minefield at the Royal Court, London (2016) [video link will be provided by the instructor]. [*Note: in this performance Arias brings British and Argentinian veterans of the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas war.]
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Readings 3 items
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New plays from Spain: eight works by seven playwrights 20130984616055,9780984616053
Book essential Please read: Alfredo Sanzol, play On the Moon (trans. Simon Breden), pp. 263-332.
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Performing European memories: trauma, ethics, politics - 2013
Book essential Please read: Milija Gluhovic, “Introduction: Theorising Europe and Recollection,”, pp. 1-29.
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Suggested reading 1 item
Maria Delgado's piece on Lola Arias' Minefield (text to be provided by the instructor)
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Week 6 1 item
Reading week - no classes.
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Week 7: Mediterranean Crossroads: Journeys of Hope to Fortress Europe 10 items13 Nov. (Monday)
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Viewing 2 items
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Las Sin Tierra – 7 Attempted Crossings of the Straits of Gibraltar 2004
Audio-visual document essential Teatro Nomad’s short performance. The DVD will be made available to you through Kate’s office.
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Audio-visual document essential Cahoots/Modern Times/Theatre Passe Muraille’s staging of The Sheep and the Whale in Toronto in 2007; Dir. Soheil Parsa [excerpts; screening in class].
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Reading 3 items
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The Sheep and the Whale - 2001
Website essential Trans. Bobby Theodore. [text will be provided by the instructor].
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The rights of others: aliens, residents, and citizens - 2004
Book essential Please read: Seyla Benhabib, “Introduction,”, pp. 1-24.
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Means without end: notes on politics - c2000
Book essential Please read: Giorgio Agamben, “Form of Life,” , pp. 3-14.
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Suggested viewing 2 items
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Sahara chronicle: a collection of videos on mobility and the politics of containment in the Sahara - 2008 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document recommended
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Europlex - , c2003 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document recommended
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Suggested reading 3 items
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The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man - 1972
Chapter recommended
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Waiting for what? The feminization of asylum in protracted situations - , 06/2011
Article recommended
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Sahara Chronicle: Video’s Migrant Geography - 2008
Chapter recommended
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Week 8: Performance and Asylum: Ethics, Politics, Embodiment; Guest in class Prof. Hanna Korsberg, U of Helsinki 3 items20 Nov. (Monday)
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Viewing 1 itemIn advance of our class.
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Ausländer Raus!: Schlingensiefs Container - , , , c2006 (videorecording)3902568011,9783902568014
Audio-visual document essential This is Paul Poet’s documentary of Christoph Schlingensief’s performance Auslander Raus.
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Viewing 1 itemIn class.
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La dernier caravansérail: Odyssées - , , , 2006 (videorecording)2240025433,9782240025432
Audio-visual document essential [selected clips].
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Reading 1 item
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Performance and cosmopolitics: cross-cultural transactions in Australasia - , 2007
Book essential Please read: Helen Gilbert and Jacqueline Lo, “Performance and Asylum: Ethics, Embodiment, Efficacy,”, pp. 186-206; 219-20.
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Week 9: Performance and Asylum: Ethics, Politics, Embodiment Cont’d 3 items27 Nov. (Monday)
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Reading 3 items
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Die Europa Trilogie - , , , 2016
Book essential Milo Rau, Empire (2016), the third part of his Europe Trilogy, in The Europe Trilogy, 222-353. (pdf of the script will be made available)
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The Ruins of Europe: Milo Rau’s Europe Trilogy and the (Re)Mediation of the Real - 2016
Article essential Warwick doesn’t have access to this article. You can try requesting this from another library by clicking the online resource button.
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Displacement, asylum, migration: the Oxford Amnesty lectures 2004 - 2006
Book essential Please read: Matthew Gibbney, “A Thousand Little Guantanamos: Western States and Measures to Prevent Arrival of Refugees,”.
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Week 10: Human Trafficking in Europe; guest in class Maria Estrada Fuentes, posdctoral fellow in the IAS, U of Warwick 6 items4 Dec. (Monday)
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Viewing 1 itemIn advance.
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The whistleblower - , , , 2011 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential
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Reading 3 items
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Roadkill - , 2011
Book essential
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When is ‘Labour’ a Coerced Performance? Trafficking, sex work, and consent - 2016
Article essential See: http://csalateral.org/wp/upcoming/leveraging-justice/
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In the Battlefield: girls, love and sex during wartime in Colombia - 2016
Article essential
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Suggested reading 2 items
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Moving people, moving images: cinema and trafficking in the new Europe - , , c20101906678030,9781906678036
Book recommended
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Human Trafficking in Russia and Other Post-Soviet States - 2011-9
Article recommended
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Spring Term 36 itemsSubject to change.
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Week 1: The Great Deception? The UK and the European Union / Brexit 3 items8 Jan. (Monday)
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Reading 2 items
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The Schuman plan - 20061854599194
Book essential
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The Real Deceit of Edward Heath: 1970-1973 - 2003
Chapter essential
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Suggested reading 1 item
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Week 2: Europe, Religion and the Public Sphere I 4 items15 Jan. (Monday)
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Viewing 1 item
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The Civil Wars - 2013
Audio-visual document essential Video link will be provided by instructor.
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Reading 3 items
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Die Europa Trilogie - , , , 2016
Book essential Please read: ), the first part of his Europe Trilogy. PDF script will be made available
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Reflections on Violence, Law, and Humanitarianism Winter 2015
Article essential
Other readings tbc.
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Week 3: Theatre, Religion and the Public Sphere II 4 items22 Jan. (Monday)
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Viewing 2 items
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The Moscow Trials - 2013
Audio-visual document essential Video link for the material will be provided by the instructor.
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Them - 2007
Audio-visual document essential Performance screening in class.
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Reading 2 items
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Religion, politics, and beyond: the Pussy Riot case - 2013
Article essential
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Delegated Performance: Outsourcing Authenticity - 05/2012
Article essential
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Week 4: Between Fact and Fiction: Verbatim/Documentary Theatre and Ethics 3 items29 Jan. (Monday)
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Reading 3 items
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Guantanamo: 'honor bound to defend freedom' - , , 2004
Book essential
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Precarious Life - 2006
Chapter essential
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Staging Terror - 2006/08/17
Article essential
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Week 5: Multicultural Germany and its Theatrical Representations 3 items5 Feb. (Monday)
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Reading 3 items
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Our Forests Haven't Been This Wild in Forever - 01/01/2006
Article essential
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Tropes of Mixture: Reassessing Multiculturalism and Performance in Germany, - 2007
Document essential Unpublished paper; to be provided by the instructor.
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The Place of the European Foreigner in Contemporary German Drama - 11/2006
Article essential
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Week 6 1 item
Reading week.
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Week 7: Death in Genoa: Stages of Resistance and the Anti-Globalisation Movement 5 items19 Feb. (Monday)
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Viewings 2 items
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Resist - , , , 2003 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document essential Screening in class of the excerpt with their street performance in Genoa in 2001.
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Tragedia endogonidia - , 2007 (videorecording)
Audio document essential A ‘video memory’ of the company’s epic performance in eleven parts; we will try to arrange a group screening of Part 1, which addresses the events that transpired during the G8 Summit in Genoa in 2001, but the DVDs will also be available in the Main Library.
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Readings 2 items
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Genoa 01 - 2002
Webpage essential Trans. Gillian Hanna. The play will be provided by the instructor.
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The radical in performance: between Brecht and Baudrillard - 1999
Book essential Please read: Baz Kershaw, “Fighting in the Streets: Performance, Protest, Politics,”, pp. 89-125.
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Suggested reading 1 item
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We, the people of Europe?: reflections on transnational citizenship - c2004
Book recommended Please read: Etiennne Balibar, “Outline of a Topography of Cruelty: Citizenship and Civility in the Era of Global Violence,”, pp. 115-132.
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Week 8: The EU Cultural Policy; The Black/North SEAS project (2008-2010) 8 items26 Feb. (Monday)
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Viewing 1 item
Intercult's SEAS Project [screening in class of selected video materials from the SEAS project, an intercultural arts project that brings together artists from the Black and North Seas countries]
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Readings 4 items
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Beer Tourist - 2008
Document essential The script will be provided by the instructor.
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Transnational Cultural Policy and European Cosmopolitanism - 07/01/2007
Article essential
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Webpage essential
Other required readings tba.
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Suggested viewing 1 item
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Black Sea files - 2005 (videorecording)
Audio-visual document recommended
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Suggested reading 2 items
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Glasgow's year of culture and discourses of cultural policy on the cusp of globalisation - 02/2006
Article recommended
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Imagined Europe - 11/2002
Article recommended
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Week 9: European Theatre Festivals 3 items5 March (Monday)
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Readings 1 item
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Theater Festivals and Their Audiences - 01/01/2011
Article essential
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Suggested reading 2 items
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Festivalising!: theatrical events, politics and culture - , 2007
Book recommended Please read: Henri Schoenmakers, "Festivals, Theatrical Events and Communicative Interactions", pp. 27-37.
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Festivalising!: theatrical events, politics and culture - , 2007
Book recommended Please read: Temple Hauptfleisch, “Festivals as Eventifying Systems”, pp. 40-47.
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Week 10: European Theatre Directors (and European Theatre Festivals cont’d) 2 items12 March (Monday)
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Readings 2 items
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Contemporary European theatre directors - , 2010
Book essential Please read: Maria M. Delgado and Dan Rebellato, “Introduction,”, pp. 1-28.
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Contemporary European theatre directors - , 2010
Book essential Please read: James Woodall, “Thomas Ostermeier: On Europe, Theatre, Communication, and Exchange”, pp. 363-376.
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