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date: 18 February 2025

Human Rights and Activism in Theater and Performance Studieslocked

Human Rights and Activism in Theater and Performance Studieslocked

  • Elizabeth W. SonElizabeth W. SonDepartment of Theatre, Northwestern University

Summary

A robust body of theater and performance studies scholarship examines the interplay between human rights, activism, and performance. These works tend to focus on gross human rights violations and highlight the interplay between political action and artistic works in grappling with histories of violence such as crimes against humanity. The studies range from investigations of the protests against the “disappearance” of dissidents during the “Dirty War” in Argentina, the performative dimensions of the South African Truth Commission, water rights of Ghanaians, and communal courts trying crimes of genocide in Rwanda, to artistic works addressing Japanese military sexual slavery, among others. Central to these discussions are questions around the politics of space, embodiment, the performativity of violence and identity, the politics of memory, and the ethics of research.

Subjects

  • Theater and Drama

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