CFP: Memory and Theatre

CALL FOR PAPERS (via PsyArt)

Call for Papers

Memory and Theatre: performing the Archive

An International Conference

TANGIER/TETOUAN, MOROCCO 2, 3, 4, 5 MAY 2015

            Current performance practice and research are caught in an ambiguous compromise comparable to what Jacques Derrida has evocatively termed ‘archive fever’. Archival revivals — from the digitization of performance, to re-enactments of past traumas and art works, to the staging of interventions into existing archives — place the discourses of preservation and intervention in creative tension, inscribing an anxiety towards ephemerality while simultaneously critiquing conservation. Theatre’s liveness and transience are often accompanied by the urgent need for documentation before they enter the mnemonic field of embodied memory. Still, archived documentations of live performance shall never capture the traces of lived yet ephemeral experience.

            The questions which arise in the context of our reflections bring to our attention the complexities between two different logics: performance and archive, disappearance and documentation. The archive logic explored by Derrida’s Archive Fever invokes a dialectical oscillation between commencement and commandment; it combines the practice of storing and restoring. Unlike museums’ tasks of “archiving, categorizing and indexing”, performance “challenges categorization, which was originally its point […] It’s not always an easy fit, but maybe what’s interesting is the way in which the past is reframed in the present.”[1] Following the thread of thought of Rebecca Schneider, reenactments challenge the existing archives and their logic in organizing and reflecting memory and history.

            The term ‘reenactment’ is charged with repetition and repercussion. It is the “practice of replaying or re-doing a precedent event, artwork, or art […] a critical mode of remaining, as well as a mode of remaining critical.” (Schneider, 2-7) It is both an act of documentation as well as a challenge to disappearance. The cultural urge to document the ‘Arab Spring’ — and the ‘years of lead’ — explains a great deal about the desire for reenacting the memory of the past/future. Arabic reenactments of the Arab Spring render the pastness of the past “both palpable and a very present matter.” (Schneider, 30)

            Inspired from our previous discussions we propose a double-edged dialogue, which is artist-driven and research-oriented. The conference also seeks to tease out some of the complexities related to the body as memory. It is a call for more critical attention to archival revivals and re-enactments of memories of the past that have become so visible also in Arabo-Islamic contexts. We invite scholars from around the world to join the debate and offer elements of reflection on the various problematics related to the following proposed panels:

·      Archival revivals between preservation and intervention

·      Sites of memory “a will to remember” (Pierre Nora): the interplay between monumentalization, performance and memory politics.

·      Body as memory and site of agency: staging a body of memories to reveal memories of the body

·      Performing the memory of the past: memory and theatre in the countries of the Arab Spring

·      Performing the archive of the Moroccan ‘years of lead’

Keynote Speakers: (to be announced later)

Memory and Theatre: presentations by eminent practitioners and scholars// Round tables with guest speakers from the field of performance and academy// Performances// Installations// Workshops (to be announced later)…

The conference is part of the International Festival “Performing Tangier” now in its 11^th edition. The theme was carefully chosen as a follow up of our previous international conferences, with the expectation that it would be sharp enough to elicit diverse intellectual contributions from distinguished experts and colleagues from many parts of the world and in many areas of research. Besides academic panel sessions, the conference program will be nourished by a rich artistic public agenda with workshops, exhibitions, book launch, and diverse performances and artistic interventions relevant to ‘Memory and Theatre’, plus receptions and gala dinners to be announced after opening.

Proposals: The organising committee welcomes abstracts and proposals strictly on the above issues. A 250-WORD abstract, along with a ONE PARAGRAPH curriculum vitae, should be submitted electronically (preferably in Word or Rich Text format) by 31 January 2015 to the scientific committee care of Professor Khalid Amine (Conference Convener). Acceptance, however, unfortunately does not include any financial support - participants are responsible for their own funding (i.e. securing grants, etc.) to pay for travel and lodging expenses. Selected conference papers will be published in a special volume upon the approval of the scientific committee. Submitters of accepted proposals will be notified within two weeks of the above deadline and all decisions of the scientific committee are final.

Simultaneous Interpreting in all Panel Sessions

Important dates & Deadlines:

• Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 January 2015.
• Notification of Acceptance/Rejection:  15 February, 2015
• Final Paper Submission Deadline: 01 April, 2015 (included). (The paper must have a sound methodology reflecting the features of real scientific research.  It must be 10 up to 12 pages of A4 format using Times New Romans size 14 in text and size 10 in the margins.
• The conference will be held on 2, 3, 4 May 2015.
• Abstracts and completed research papers should be sent to the following emails:

khamine55@gmail.com / jaouadradouani@gmail.com

For more information on the conference please contact Prof. Khalid Amine: Khamine55@gmail.com

New Scholars’ Panel: The conference is also a home for graduate students and new scholars from different parts of the world. The establishment of an emerging Scholars’ panel invites new voices to join the debate (provided that their contributions must be relevant to the theme of this year). Up to FIVE participants will be selected for this panel, and each panelist will have ten to fifteen minutes to deliver her/his paper. Graduate students whose papers are accepted will receive free conference registration, free admission to conference luncheon, and a one-year membership in ICPS. Who is eligible? Scholars who meet the definition of ‘new scholars’ are postgraduate students writing up their PhD dissertation or post-doctoral researchers whose PhDs have been completed less than three years.

Registration Fee: 100 Euros payable in advance via Bank transfer (le centre international des études de spectacle, Banque Populaire, Tanger Ain Ktiout: 164 640 2121490077510009 61) or upon arrival. Registration includes 2 Gala Receptions, conference pack, tickets for any public concerts or site-specific performances within the conference’s public agenda, free guided tour of the Kasbah Museum, and one of the books of published proceedings from previous conferences. Since the conference is again pulling a very international public, registered attendees, participants from past conferences, and friends of ICPS will be most welcome to attend too. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply.  ICPS is an Affirmative Acting/ Equal Opportunity Organization.

Conference Location: Faculty of Letters at Abdelmalek Essaâdi University (Tétouan), the Kasbah Museum (Tangier), Sahat El Kasbah, Chellah Hotel…

The Scientific Advisory Board (2015)

·      Erika Fischer-Lichte (Head of DFG Collaborative Research Centre "Performing Cultures" and Director of BMBF International Research Centre "Interweaving Cultures in Performance", Berlin, Germany

·      Christel Weiler, Professor at Institute for theatre science of the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

·      Maria Shevtsova (Chair Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts, Co-editor of New Theatre Quarterly (Cambridge University Press), Director of Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group, University of London)

·      Marvin Carlson (The Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York)

·      George F. Roberson, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Geography Human Dimensions Research Cluster, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA

·      Richard Gough, Senior Research Fellow and Artistic Director of the Centre for Performance Research, Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales

·      Zohra Makach (Professor of Theatre at Ibn Zohr University of Agadir. She holds a PhD degree in Theatre Studies from Paris III)

·      Omar Fertat (Professor of Theater in the Arab World, Department of Oriental Studies and the Far East and the Department of Performing Arts, Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux 3)

·      Mohammed Samir Al-Khatib  (Professor, Ain Shams University, Egypt)

Conference Supporting Committee:

·    Mohammed Saad Zemmouri (Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at AEU)

·      Mohammed Kaouti (Independent Playwright, Morocco)

·      Carol Malt (Museum Curator, Adjunct Professor at the University of West Florida, and Ex-Director of the Art & Culture Center of Hollywood, USA)

·      Marjorie Kanter  (Author of short literary and poem-like pieces, USA)

·      Said Karimi (Professor, Faculty of Errachidiya, Moulay Ismail University)

·      Noureddine Chemlali (Director, King Fahd School of Translation)

·      Mustapha El-Ghachi (Vice Dean, Faculty of Humanites, AEU, Tetouan)

·      Abderrazzak Essrhir (Chair of the English Department at AEU)

·      Mohamed Bahjaji (Playwright and journalist, Morocco)

·      Abdelmajid El Hawass (Artist, ISADAK, Morocco)

·      Redouan El Ayadi (Professor, Abdelmalek Essaadi University)

·      Mohammed Taqqal (Regional Director of the Miniustry of Culture)

Conference Convener:

Khalid Amine (President of ICPS)

khamine55@gmail.com

Conference Co-Convener:

Younes El-Assad Ryani (Professor of Cultural Studies, Abdelmalek Essaadi University)

ra_younes@hotmail.com

Conference Assistants:

Jaouad Radouani (Theatre Scholar, member of ICPS)

jaouadradouani@gmail.com

Badreddine Charab (Administrator, ICPS)    charab09@yahoo.fr

Abdelaziz Khalili (General Secretary, ICPS)    khaliliaziz@yahoo.fr

Conference Organizing Committee:

(ICPS members & volunteers/ to be announced later)

Contact information:

Khalid Amine, Conference Convener, Residence Al Andalous  N° 11, Rue  Birr Anzaran, Tanger 90 010, Maroc Adresse: E-mail: khamine55@gmail.com, Tél/Fax: (212) 539330466, Portable: 0664596791/ Web: www.furja.ma / Bank details of ICPS, Centre International des Etudes de Spectacles, Banque populaire, Agence N° 36, Tanger Ain Ktiouet, Relevé d’identité bancaire: 164 640 212149007751000961.                                           © ICPS

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[1] Carol Kino, in Rebecca Schneider, Performing Remains: Art and war in Times of Theatrical Reenactment (New York: Routledge, 2011), p.5.