CFP: Australasian Drama Studies (ADS) Special Issue:Turangawaewae/A Place to Stand: Situating Contemporary Indigenous Performance in Australasia (and beyond)

Turangawaewae is a term from Te Ao Maori (the Maori world) which is often translated as 'A Place to Stand', but refers to the concept of home, or traditional grounds/whenua. It is explained by Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal as “places where we feel especially empowered and connected. They are our foundation, our place in the world, our home.”[1]
Turangawaewae draws on the representation of home/place/culture/identity from inside and outside traditional landscapes, as well as connecting with the provocations of 'standing ground' or ‘standing up’. Prioritising the work and voices of First Peoples, this Special Issue will explore how Indigenous performances in Australasia assert, negotiate, share and challenge distinct ‘places to stand’.

Submissions might explore topics such as:

The distinct ways indigenous performances are made and/or received, at ‘Home’ and ‘Away’;

• Ways of reading and seeing indigenous performance in indigenous contexts
• How to engage indigenous audiences locally, nationally and internationally
• Challenges of working on and off country

How indigenous performance negotiates cultural and artistic exchange on many platforms;

• Trans-indigenous collaboration between artists across nations, and between artists and activists
• Funding and Festivals: how indigenous performance is ‘placed’ and curated in a national and/or global framework
• Negotiations between local and global, between the traditional and the contemporary

How indigenous performances assert ‘place’;

• The interweaving whakapapa (genealogy)of contemporary indigenous performance
• Ecocentric representations of land and place
• Themes of Kaitiakitanga (caretakership)

The issue will be co-curated by Dr Nicola Hyland, Dr Liza-Mare Syron and Associate Professor Maryrose Casey. We are looking for a variety of submissions (max 6000 words), both critical and creative, which speak to these ideas. Please contact us for more information, or to send an expression of interest and abstract.

Submission drafts are due by August 1, 2018.
 

nicola.hyland@vuw.ac.nz    
lizamare.syron@mq.edu.au  
maryrose.casey@monash.edu