Performing Difference is a compilation of seventeen essays from some of the leading scholars in history, criticism, film, and theater studies. Each author examines the portrayal of groups and individuals that have been traditionally marginalized or excluded from dominant historical narratives. As a meeting point of several fields of study, this book is organized around three meta-themes: race, gender, and genocide. Included are analyses of films and theatrical productions from the United States, as well as essays on cinema from Southern and Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. Topically, the contributing authors write about the depiction of race, ethnicities, gender and sexual orientation, and genocides. This volume assesses how the performing arts have aided in the social construction of the "other" in differing contexts. Its fundamental premise is that performance is powerful, and its unifying thesis is that the arts remain a major forum for advancing a more nuanced and humane vision of social outcasts, not only in the realm of national imaginations, but in social relations as well.

About the Author
Jonathan Friedman is director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and associate professor of history at West Chester University. He has worked as a historian at both the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. He is the author of four books: most recently The Literary, Cultural, and Historical Significance of the 1937 Biblical Stage Play, The Eternal Road (2004), and Rainbow Jews: Gay and Jewish Identity in the Performing Arts (2007).


Book Information
ISBN 9780761841548
Author Jonathan C. Friedman
Format Paperback
Page Count 310
Imprint University Press of America
Publisher University Press of America
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 156mm * 24mm