Skwirblies, Lisa (2017) Theatres of colonialism: theatricality, coloniality, and performance in the German Empire, 1884-1914. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This dissertation investigates the nexus between theatre and colonialism in the German empire between 1884 and 1914. It introduces the concept of colonial theatricality, through which it explores to what extent theatre and colonialism have been productive of each other’s orders, knowledge formations, and truth claims. This dissertation thus looks at the empire through its cultural manifestations and its ‘representational machinery’, specifically the theatre. It provides an understanding of the German colonial empire that goes beyond its territorial, administrative and military strategies. In order to do so, the dissertation discusses a broad set of performances that the German empire brought forth at the turn of the century: popular theatre performances that mediated the colonial project to a domestic audience, amateur theatre societies that staged ‘German culture’ in the colonies, colonial ceremonies that included repertoires of the settler as well as of the indigenous population, court-hearings of African individuals residing in Germany claiming their rights, and a petition from the former German colony Kamerun charging the German government with crimes against humanity. Beyond the appearance of the colonial project as a topical issue on stage, this dissertation argues for a deeper-seated interdependence between theatre and colonialism, one that can be detected in the dynamics of ‘seeing’ and ‘showing’. Through the concept of colonial theatricality as a particular mode of perception and representation akin to both the theatre and the colonial enterprise, this dissertation suggests a new framework for looking at the entangled histories of metropole and colony in focusing on the empire’s ordering truth, its formations, effects, and ambivalences.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Theater -- Germany -- History -- 19th century, Theater -- Germany -- History -- 20th century, Germany -- Colonies -- History, Performing arts -- Germany -- History -- 19th century
Official Date:	September 2017
Dates:	Date Event September 2017 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Gluhovic, Milija,1971-
Extent:	vii, 266 leaves
Language:	eng

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