Introductory description

What are the links between theatre and colonialism? How have theatrical ways of seeing, knowing, and performing shaped colonialism and how has performance been imbricated in colonial logics ? Concurrently, how has theatre and performance resisted imperialist expansionism? This module explores these questions while avoiding any claims to providing a comprehensive survey of theatre and colonialism. It invites students to analyse the relationship between theatre, performance and colonialism in diverse political, economic and socio-cultural forms through specific case studies from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries—Shakespeare and the British Raj, neoliberalization and Disney, development and applied theatre, the modern university and decolonization. Activities in class will take a number of formats. Through seminar discussions, lectures, workshops, play readings, and performance analyses, the module will introduce students to a range of research topics, critical concepts, and socio-political debates stemming from diverse geographic contexts.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Part 1: Colonialism - the Basics
Week 1 – Introduction - What is Colonialism?
Week 2 – The British Empire and Shakespeare
Week 3 – Parsi Theatre
Week 4 – Postcolonial Theatre
Week 5 – Workshop 1
Part 2: Complicating Colonialism
Week 5 – Settler Colonialism, Development, and the issue of Palestine
Week 6 – Reading Week
Week 7 – Empire (Hardt and Negri), Biopolitics, and Performance in Everyday Life
Week 8 – Heritage and Museumification
Week 9 – AI, Colonialism, and the Performance of Human Voice
Week 10 – Workshop 2

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Evaluate the multidirectional impact between theatre and performance and colonialism from historical, geopolitical, and affective perspectives.
• Demonstrate an understanding of postcolonial theory and decolonial methodologies as well as their practical applicability to social and cultural problems.
• Analyse how theatre makers have reinforced, intervened in, and subverted colonialist modes of knowledge production.
• Develop communication and analytical skills that will enable them to critically interrogate their own and others practice.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Research element

Each week students will need to understand the context in which canonical concepts and theories, performances and written plays, were produced. As part of the module, students will need to conduct independent research related to the concepts and methods being discussed.

Interdisciplinary

The module engages with issues that are comprehensively covered in fields such as comparative literature, cultural studies, modern history and tourism studies.

International

This module considers concepts and case studies from the Indian subcontinent, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Algeria and the US.

Subject specific skills

• Identify colonialism as a social category and historical formation that shapes frameworks and systems of the present comprising theatre and performance.
• Develop a critical understanding of the mutual impact between theatre and colonialism.
• Gain knowledge of key debates and ideas in the study of colonialism in relation to theatre and performance.
• Apply canonical theories and modes of analysis acquired from the module to consider theatre and performance in relation to power.

Transferable skills

• research skills • critical thinking • problem solving • analytical skills • reflective practice • cross-cultural understanding