Keyword: Pakarnnatam
Definition: The literal meaning of the Malayalam word 'Pakarnnatam' is the transformation/transference from one character to many characters mentally and physically. In 'Koodiyattam' it is the technique of a single actor performing the roles of multiple characters. Also a traditional method adopted by 'Kathakali', 'Pakarnnatam' is being employed as an acting technique in modern Kerela theatre.
Pakarnnatam is a combination of two words. 'Pakarnnu' (pouring out, exchange, transmigration, translocation, synonym, infection and change) and 'Aatam' (motion, moving, play, dance, comedy, drama, shake, and to oscillate from one point to another).
Take for example Othello and Iago. One actor would play all of the roles in the play. There is a tranformation from Othello to Iago. Another from Iago to Desdemona, and another from Desdemona back to Othello. One actor will play every role. The onus is on 'transformation' through body language, gesture, voice, movement etc. N.b. the 'pre-expressive behaviour' we focused on in this morning's lecture following Euginio Barba.
The crisis or the freedom of multiple perspectives. Discourse.
Challenge and elaboration: This idea, this 'concept', can be applied to the 'social mask', especially in the context of globalization, cosmopolitanism and many of the keywords discussed so far in the introductory session. We adopt a 'social mask' in engaging with different people. In the same vein as Pakarnnatam we undergo a process of transformation, exchange, change etc. This is a global phenomenon. It is particularly applicable to many contexts involving dislocation form one community to another.
Keyword 2: Mhlela:
It is a ritual, a set of actions, often thought to have a symbolic value.
Mhlela, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion. It is performed at regular intervals or a specific occasion.
Take for example the months of drought. Mhelela, as an artform/ritual/performance is conducted in the hope that rain will come. It works as a means of prayer. It's not directed or written, but has evolved, almost as a means of spectacle, but a spectacle rooted in religious ritual.
Challenge and elaboration: Those that take part need to suffer. They will cut themselves and bleed as a part of this ritual. But a ritual which we propose is an art form, a 'performance'. The boundaries between ritual and performance blur. N.b. Richard Schechner, 'Performance Studies: an Introduction'.
Now take into account globalization. Las Vegas also suffers serious drought. But as rich Countries/States get richer, poor Countries/States get poorer. Las Vegas can afford to build an exceptionally long pipe line to attain the necessary water from Los Angeles. Eritrea cannot. Ritual provides a means of coping with a serious problem as a community, bringing a community closer together.
Keyword 3: 'Media'. The media as a performance platform.
OED Definition: the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively.
N.b. Another definition of the word 'media' comes from anatomy. The OED defines: and intermediate layer in the wall of a blood vessel or lymphatic vessel.
Might these two distinct words be linked. In the same way that blood vessels link different areas of the body, so does television, the internet etc. link different parts of the world.
So why a performance platform? Case study: CERN (abbreviation for European Organization for Nuclear Research). Recent events regarding particle collisions in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has prompted huge controvesy. But CERN has been dependent on this controversy to work its way into the public eye, to justify its experiments, to utilise the performative platform offered by the 'media-as-stage'.
Why is this relevent for us in this keywords project? CERN's experiments will fundamentally shake the way in which physicists understand the world. But ought this to monopolise a world view? Context is everything. Relativity is key.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Warwick Group 3 - Keywords (Stu and Michelle)
COSMOPOLITAN: adj. 1): having worldwide rather than limited or provincial scope or bearing 2) having wide international sophistication : worldly 3) composed of persons, constituents, or elements from all or many parts of the world
cosmopolitan adj 1 belonging to or representative of all parts of the world. 2 free of national prejudices; international in experience and outlook. 3 sophisticated. 4 composed of people from all different parts of the world. noun someone of this type; a citizen of the world.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from cosmo- + Greek polites citizen.
- Chambers Online
cosmopolitan
adjective USUALLY APPROVING
containing or having experience of people and things from many different parts of the world
COSMOPOLITAN magazine – what image is this trying to portray? Exotic? Sophisticated? Stylish? Why particularly a women’s point of view?
Cosmopolitan Cocktail – Martini Glass, Pink, Sex and the City
Challenge: There is a huge logical leap between a definition such as “from all parts of the world” and one such as “sophisticated”. This leads to a confusing tension in definition between the multicultural and the hierarchical, as these two radically different meanings are often conflated into one vague general term. Similarly, there are problems with colloquial usages (eg. the magazine and cocktail above), which further distance people from any original meaning.
Demographic
Noun. A particular sector of a populace.
- OED.
demography noun, technical the scientific study of population statistics, including births, deaths, etc. demographer noun someone who studies demography or the statistics of populations. demographic adj.
ETYMOLOGY: 19c: from Greek demos people + -graphy.
- Chambers Online
demographic
Main Entry:
demographic
Function:
noun
Date:
circa 1966
1 plural : the statistical characteristics of human populations (as age or income) used especially to identify markets
2: a market or segment of the population identified by demographics
As an indicator used to define a sector of society, a demographic constitutes a particular grouping of (usually) people, segregated on grounds of age, wealth, ethnicity, profession, or many other characteristics. It is often used as a marketing tool, so companies can effectively market their products to particular target groups, but is also an issue in politics and the art world, as (for example) a theatre group decides to put on plays aimed at a particular type of theatergoer.
Challenge: There are several problems with this definition though, as the criteria used for differentiating demographics can be concrete (eg. those on salaries of £50,000 or more), or far more value-based (eg. people with liberal tendencies). This leads to indeterminacy, but also to a stereotyped view of society as a whole, as certain discrete personal tendencies can become the prime social stratification for commercial groups.
Corral de comedias (noun):
House, courtyard or theatre where plays were first performed on a permanent space in
Challenge: It’s a type of staging space very similar to the Elizabethan stage, so it is not exclusive to the Spanish tradition. So, to what extent it is a local concept or else a way of conceiving the theatrical space that transcended local borders.
Warwick Group 1 (Adam Dev and Meseret).
Globalization:
GLOBALIZATION the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labour markets. (Janelle Reinelt).
Our challenges and elaborations:
1) Not 'Globalization' so much as 'Westernization'.
2) Globalization as the return of 'Colonization'.
3) 'Globalization' as 'exploitation.
4) A disease of economics infecting countries outside of America and the EU.
GLOBALIZATION the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labour markets. (Janelle Reinelt).
Our challenges and elaborations:
1) Not 'Globalization' so much as 'Westernization'.
2) Globalization as the return of 'Colonization'.
3) 'Globalization' as 'exploitation.
4) A disease of economics infecting countries outside of America and the EU.
Warwick Group 2 Keywords (Courtney & Ridzal)
internationalism
1. a policy of cooperation among nations .
2. an attitude or belief favoring such a policy.
Additional definitions and/or uses of the term:
the advocacy of cooperation and understanding between nations.
(OED)
cooperation between nations for the theoretical benefit of all.
(Wikipedia)
In linguistics, an internationalism is a "loanword that occurs in several languages with the same or at least similar meaning and etymology. These words exist in 'several different languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from the ultimate source' (I.V.Arnold). Pronunciation and orthography are similar so that the word is understandable between the different languages e.g. 'airport,' 'tsunami' and 'international.'"
In Marxist thought, proletarian internationalism might be summed up in the slogan, "Workers of the world, unite!"
(Wikipedia)
Challenge(s): The initial definition presupposes cooperation and does not address potentially exploitative relationships or tensions embedded in the concept and its application. As the other definitions reveal, internationalists strive to establish cooperation but there are also divergent interpretations and agendas that shape the understanding of what it means to be international or internationalist. How do we maintain the balance between supra-national bodies e.g. UN, ICJ, EU, as some kind of international authority, against the rights and autonomy of individual sovereign nations? Are the interests of both complementary to or at odds with each other? Is internationalism an all-encompassing term or does it allow for differences between groups in terms of race, gender or class? (Proletarian internationalism vs. bourgeois internationalism? Is there such a thing as bourgeois internationalism? Other types of internationalism(s)?)
syncretism
1. the combination of different forms of belief or practice.
2. the fusion of two or more originally different forms.
(Source: Merriam-Webster Online)
Challenge(s): Does the conceit of inclusiveness conceal underlying exclusions and omissions? Does it perpetuate false consciousness to conceptualize this fusion and synthesis as an all-encompassing incorporation of disparate elements?
How does syncretism account for the persistent distinctive sub-groups or sub-genres, such as Asian-American or African-American theatre(s)? Is syncretism always desirable or does it threaten the autonomy and/or distinctiveness of particular sub-cultures or groups?
polyglottal (or polyglot), adj.
1. Of a person: that speaks, writes, or understands a number of languages.
2. a. Written or uttered in a number of languages; spec. (of a book, esp. a bible) printed with the text translated into several languages.
b. Characterized by a multiplicity of (native) languages; involving the use of several languages, or elements of several languages; multilingual.
(Source: Oxford English Dictionary)
Challenge(s): Is it merely a superficial pastiche of different languages i.e. throwing in words and phrases in other languages into a play, for example, for the sake of aesthetic variety? Do polyglottal theatricalizations also contribute to stereotypes or reductive characterizations of people and groups based on speech acts? How does polyglottal performance impact audience reception? (Positively? Negatively?)
1. a policy of cooperation among nations .
2. an attitude or belief favoring such a policy.
Additional definitions and/or uses of the term:
the advocacy of cooperation and understanding between nations.
(OED)
cooperation between nations for the theoretical benefit of all.
(Wikipedia)
In linguistics, an internationalism is a "loanword that occurs in several languages with the same or at least similar meaning and etymology. These words exist in 'several different languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from the ultimate source' (I.V.Arnold). Pronunciation and orthography are similar so that the word is understandable between the different languages e.g. 'airport,' 'tsunami' and 'international.'"
In Marxist thought, proletarian internationalism might be summed up in the slogan, "Workers of the world, unite!"
(Wikipedia)
Challenge(s): The initial definition presupposes cooperation and does not address potentially exploitative relationships or tensions embedded in the concept and its application. As the other definitions reveal, internationalists strive to establish cooperation but there are also divergent interpretations and agendas that shape the understanding of what it means to be international or internationalist. How do we maintain the balance between supra-national bodies e.g. UN, ICJ, EU, as some kind of international authority, against the rights and autonomy of individual sovereign nations? Are the interests of both complementary to or at odds with each other? Is internationalism an all-encompassing term or does it allow for differences between groups in terms of race, gender or class? (Proletarian internationalism vs. bourgeois internationalism? Is there such a thing as bourgeois internationalism? Other types of internationalism(s)?)
syncretism
1. the combination of different forms of belief or practice.
2. the fusion of two or more originally different forms.
(Source: Merriam-Webster Online)
Challenge(s): Does the conceit of inclusiveness conceal underlying exclusions and omissions? Does it perpetuate false consciousness to conceptualize this fusion and synthesis as an all-encompassing incorporation of disparate elements?
How does syncretism account for the persistent distinctive sub-groups or sub-genres, such as Asian-American or African-American theatre(s)? Is syncretism always desirable or does it threaten the autonomy and/or distinctiveness of particular sub-cultures or groups?
polyglottal (or polyglot), adj.
1. Of a person: that speaks, writes, or understands a number of languages.
2. a. Written or uttered in a number of languages; spec. (of a book, esp. a bible) printed with the text translated into several languages.
b. Characterized by a multiplicity of (native) languages; involving the use of several languages, or elements of several languages; multilingual.
(Source: Oxford English Dictionary)
Challenge(s): Is it merely a superficial pastiche of different languages i.e. throwing in words and phrases in other languages into a play, for example, for the sake of aesthetic variety? Do polyglottal theatricalizations also contribute to stereotypes or reductive characterizations of people and groups based on speech acts? How does polyglottal performance impact audience reception? (Positively? Negatively?)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
STAFF POSTING HANNA S. COURSE KEYWORDS
Locality: 1. the fact or condition of having a location in space or time 2. a particular place, situation or location
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
Ethnicity: 1. ethnic quality or affiliation 2. a particular ethnic affiliation or group < students of diverse ethnicities
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
Multiculturalism: see multicultural; of, relationg to, reflecting, or adapted to diverse cultures < a multicultural society> < multicultural education> < amulticultural menu>
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
Ethnicity: 1. ethnic quality or affiliation
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
Multiculturalism: see multicultural; of, relationg to, reflecting, or adapted to diverse cultures < a multicultural society> < multicultural education> < amulticultural menu>
Source: Merriam-Webster Online. 19 September 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
STAFF POSTING KATI COURSE KEYWORDS
Culture: “Culture […] is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law. Morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” E.B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, Boston 1871, p. 1.
Intercultural: The intercultural is a space of negotiation that opens the way to the inter(connectedness) of cultures, based not on the exoticism or relativism of multiculturalism or on the diversity of cultures, but offering an insight in the struggles and in the performative histories and trajectories of becoming cultures. So, the inter is the cutting edge of translation and negotiation, the in between space where cultures not only reveal their meanings and appearances, but also reveal how they merge to something new. (Based on: H. Bhabha, The location of Cultures.)
Multicultural: part of the notion of cultural diversity: Seen through the lens of cultural diversity cultures become epistemological objects, objects of knowledge that tend to be compared as pre-given contents and customs. (H. Bhabha, The location of Culture)
Transcultural: notion of universality of culture or of cultural aspects that are common to all cultures. It transcends the notion of cultural difference.
Cultural diversity: Cultural diversity is the recognition of pre-given cultural contexts and customs. Because it is held in a time-frame of relativism it gives rise to liberal notions of the multicultural and cross-cultural. H. Bhabha, The location of Culture
Theatre anthropology: A) Where can an Occidental actor turn in order to find out how to construct the material bases of his art? This is the question which theatre anthropology attempts to answer. E. Barba, Floating Islands.
B) Just as theatre is anthropologizing itself, so anthropology is being theatricalized. This convergence is the historical occasion for all kinds of exchanges. The convergence of anthropology and theatre is part of a larger intellectual movement where the understanding of human behavior is changing from quantifiable differences between cause and effect, form and content etc.” Richard Schechner, Between Theatre & Anthropology.
Cultural difference: The notion of cultural difference focuses on the problem of the ambivalence of cultural authority. On the one hand it implies the acceptance of difference as difference, and on the other hand it postulates the awareness of the cultural supremacy which is itself produced only in the moment of differentiation. This includes a consciousness that different cultures are never unitary in themselves, but again marked by differences, such like gender, ethnics, classes etc..
Intercultural: The intercultural is a space of negotiation that opens the way to the inter(connectedness) of cultures, based not on the exoticism or relativism of multiculturalism or on the diversity of cultures, but offering an insight in the struggles and in the performative histories and trajectories of becoming cultures. So, the inter is the cutting edge of translation and negotiation, the in between space where cultures not only reveal their meanings and appearances, but also reveal how they merge to something new. (Based on: H. Bhabha, The location of Cultures.)
Multicultural: part of the notion of cultural diversity: Seen through the lens of cultural diversity cultures become epistemological objects, objects of knowledge that tend to be compared as pre-given contents and customs. (H. Bhabha, The location of Culture)
Transcultural: notion of universality of culture or of cultural aspects that are common to all cultures. It transcends the notion of cultural difference.
Cultural diversity: Cultural diversity is the recognition of pre-given cultural contexts and customs. Because it is held in a time-frame of relativism it gives rise to liberal notions of the multicultural and cross-cultural. H. Bhabha, The location of Culture
Theatre anthropology: A) Where can an Occidental actor turn in order to find out how to construct the material bases of his art? This is the question which theatre anthropology attempts to answer. E. Barba, Floating Islands.
B) Just as theatre is anthropologizing itself, so anthropology is being theatricalized. This convergence is the historical occasion for all kinds of exchanges. The convergence of anthropology and theatre is part of a larger intellectual movement where the understanding of human behavior is changing from quantifiable differences between cause and effect, form and content etc.” Richard Schechner, Between Theatre & Anthropology.
Cultural difference: The notion of cultural difference focuses on the problem of the ambivalence of cultural authority. On the one hand it implies the acceptance of difference as difference, and on the other hand it postulates the awareness of the cultural supremacy which is itself produced only in the moment of differentiation. This includes a consciousness that different cultures are never unitary in themselves, but again marked by differences, such like gender, ethnics, classes etc..
Friday, September 19, 2008
Staff Posting Janelle Warwick Student Groups
Warwick Student Groups
1. Adam Alston
Devendranath Sankaranarayanan
Meseret Mengstu
Carol Borja
2. Lotte Allan
Jamie Feng
Muhammad Hamid
Cortney McCallister
3. Stuart Denison
Keith Bennie
Jamal Mohamad
Michele Nicholson Sanz
Rebecca Wotzko
1. Adam Alston
Devendranath Sankaranarayanan
Meseret Mengstu
Carol Borja
2. Lotte Allan
Jamie Feng
Muhammad Hamid
Cortney McCallister
3. Stuart Denison
Keith Bennie
Jamal Mohamad
Michele Nicholson Sanz
Rebecca Wotzko
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