CFP: Collection on Environmental Performance
Human degradation of the environment has been documented by scholars
across a range of disciplines: the global temperature of the planet
continues to rise, abandoned industrial sites stain once vibrant
communities, and questions about the purity of our water and foods
linger. In the shadow of these material conditions, many have turned to
performance as a means to critique careless consumerism and excessive
lifestyles in! hope of illustrating alternative ways of living. The
World’s a Stage: Performance on Behalf of the Environment explores the
strengths, limitations, and processes of these environmental
performances, a still relatively underexplored area of scholarship. We
invite proposals for original essays addressing topics that may include,
but are not limited to, the following:
-Mediated performances about nature and/or the environment (e.g., No
Impact Man) -Nature used to enhance and/or detract from musical
performances (e.g., outdoor festivals or concerts) -Animal rights
rhetoric (e.g., the television series Whale Wars) -Critiques with
practical suggestions for improving activism (e.g., exploring the
strengths and limitations of environmental protests as “image events”)
-Evaluations of local case studies from a performative framework (e.g.,
community responses to “food deserts”) -Environmental representations on
“stage” (e.g., Blue Man Group and global climate change) -Theoretical
essays on “environmental performance” or the “performance of nature”
We welcome submissions using methodological approaches from a variety
of critical, cultural, performative, (auto)ethnographic, rhetorical,
historical, political, and/or theatrical origins. Five chapter proposals
have already been accepted and a publisher has already expressed
interest in the collection.!
Send your abstract (no more than 500 words) and brief bio to Drs.
Richard D. Besel (rbesel@calpoly.edu <mailto:rbesel@calpoly.edu>) and
Jnan Blau (jablau@calpoly.edu <mailto:jablau@calpoly.edu>) by March 1,
2011.
