MLA 2022 – Circum-Atlantic Drama and Performance

“Circum-Atlantic Drama and Performance”

The Drama and Performance Forum of the Modern Language Association (MLA) Sponsored Session

2022 MLA Annual Convention in Washington, DC from January 6 to 9, 2022.

We welcome proposals on diverse types of drama and performance in the circum-Atlantic world during any period and are especially interested in topics that foreground sites outside of the U.S. and Britain. Some possible questions: How were performance traditions that developed in the (former) colonies of Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and the UK circulated and re-staged in Europe and/or Africa? How were indigenous, Afrodescendant, and other identities (such as Chinese or Indian) conscripted into performative acts of surrogation? What does it mean to speak of circum-Atlantic performance in the digital era? And do changes in the cartography of global capitalism require us to revise the circum-Atlantic script? This panel will be held in conjunction with a roundtable devoted to the 25th anniversary of Joseph Roach’s Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance.

Please submit brief bios and 250-word abstracts by March 15, 2021 to Sarah J. Townsend (sjt18@psu.edu).