What are the stakes of cultural production in a time of war? How is artistic expression prone to manipulation by the state and international humanitarian organizations? In the charged political terrain of post-genocide Rwanda, post-civil war Uganda, and recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laura Edmondson explores performance through the lens of empire. Instead of celebrating theatre productions as expression of cultural agency and resilience, Edmondson traces their humanitarian imperatives to a place where global narratives of violence take precedence over local traditions and audiences. Working at the intersection of performance and trauma, Edmondson reveals how artists and cultural workers manipulate narratives in the shadow of empire and how empire, in turn, infiltrates creative capacities.

About the Author

Laura Edmondson is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater at Dartmouth College, where she is also affiliated with African and African American Studies. She is author of Performance and Politics in Tanzania: The Nation on Stage (IUP).

Reviews

While the arguments put forward in Performing Trauma in Central Africa are impressive, the methodological and ethical commitments that buttress the text are even more so. Edmondson's research for the book spans well over a
decade and encompasses a rich variety of ethnographic and archival investigations on three continents.

* Modern Drama *

Edmondson's publication provokes a crucial debate on the humanitarian efforts of performance, particularly in geographic regions of trauma.

* TDR: The Drama Review *

Edmondson's book is an outstanding addition to the literature on theatre and performance in situations of conflict and post-conflict. It will be an indispensable work for students, academics and activists concerned with the role of the arts in war-affected communities and within the humanitarian sector more broadly.

* New Theatre Quarterly *

Edmondson deploys her knowledge of the region and her capacity for critical participation to illuminate both the power and the limits of memory

* Theatre Journal *

[T]his important volume [is] particularly valuable as an honest and accurate critique of art for social change. . . . Essential.

* Choice *

The author's transparency calls attention to the burden of empire she both carries and casts off whenever possible . . . Edmondson's writing is both trauma-suspect and trauma-informed.

* Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253032454
Author Laura Edmondson
Format Hardback
Page Count 366
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press