Author: Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts
Title: “Black Performance Theory” edited by Thomas De Frantz and Anita Gonzalez, Durham: Duke University Press.
Subject: This volume builds on work undertaken at a series of symposia and working groups between 1998 and 2009.
At each meeting, a small cadre of scholars and practitioners met to share work-in-progress in experimental sessions that included dance performances, play readings, poetry and solo performance work, film screenings, flash animation presentations and the reading of academic papers.
The essays in this anthology have been inspired by these meetings. Collectively they confirm a vibrant array of scholarship around the theme of black performance theory, an area long predicted by the formations of performance studies and Africana studies.
Publication date: The expected release date is 2013.
How long have you been working on this?
We have been working on this project for almost 10 years now. The compilation of essays is impressive and the volume includes some of the most sought after voices in African diaspora studies.
What makes this unique?
The scholarly discourse represents a crucial field in formation, one concerned with relationships between disciplines, and defined by ever-expanding articulations of race, nation and, most importantly, aesthetic.