Performing National Identity

The role of South African theatre in contemporary identity formation is the topic of a new joint project between the OU’s Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies and The University of Warwick.

Entitled Performing Memory: theatricalising identity in contemporary South Africa, the project will explore how formal processes of remembering and recording the contested histories of South Africa – such as the Truth and Reconciliation hearings – are related to popular performative representations including plays, installations, memorials, film and TV, in the 're-membering' of a nation.

The project is a collaboration between Professor Dennis Walder, Director of the Ferguson Centre and Dr Yvette Hutchison from the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at University of Warwick.

"This is the kind of collaborative initiative that sets up a model for future work in the field of drama and performance studies, crossing the divide between empirical and theoretical approaches to culture in postcolonial contexts," said Professor Walder.

A £140,000 Leverhulme Trust grant will fund two full-time PhD students, one at each university, as well as travel and archival work. The outcomes will include a book, articles and a new South African theatre archive at the Ferguson Centre.

Both Hutchison and Walder have wide experience of research and publication in the South African theatre context. They are currently finalising a special Africa Issue of Contemporary Theatre Review