Performative Spaces in Language, Literature and Culture Education

Performative Spaces in Language, Literature and Culture Education
2nd International SCENARIO Forum Conference marking 10 Years SCENARIO – Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research

University College Cork, Ireland – May 25-28, 2017
Presentations, workshops and performances will take place in the Granary Theatre and seminar rooms adjacent to the Granary Theatre.

The 2017 SCENARIO Forum conference responds to increasing signs of a performative shift in education and explores potential PERFORMATIVE SPACES in language, literature and culture-related pedagogical contexts. We invite contributions with a focus on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Embodied spaces. How can the role of the body be accentuated more as an integral part of the learning process? What effects does embodiment have on learning outcomes?
• Physical spaces. What are the challenges and possibilities of existing physical spaces (classrooms/seminar rooms/lecture halls etc.) and how can performative teaching approaches impact and possibly transform those spaces?
• Mental spaces. What new spaces in the mind emerge from working performatively in education? How can those spaces be perceived, described, and reflected upon?
• Empty spaces. Which specific areas in education could particularly benefit from performative approaches to teaching and learning? If “empty space” is “any space in which theatre takes place” (Peter Brook), how can empty spaces become rooms for artistic/aesthetic experiences in language, literature, and culture education?
• Intercultural spaces. How can different cultures, languages and language learning backgrounds be productively integrated into performative teaching and learning? To what extent do performative approaches go beyond existing practice in the area of intercultural education?
• Curricular spaces. In what way have performative teaching and learning cultures already shaped existent curricula? What are the desiderata?
• Research spaces. What gaps exist between theoretical considerations and practical applications of performative teaching and learning, and how can these gaps become viable spaces for performative research? In what ways has research into performative teaching and learning already made an impact on research methodologies? How can performative teaching and learning be observed, codified, and/or assessed?
• Definitional spaces: What terminological challenges and transcultural considerations need to be focused on in the development of an international glossary of terms?
• Visionary spaces. After 10 years of SCENARIO: To what extent has the way towards a performative teaching and learning culture been paved? What has been achieved in particular cultural contexts? What developments are desirable/expected over the next ten years?

We welcome contributions from teachers, scholars, as well as artists and practitioners in related arts-based disciplines and professional fields of practice, including Education, Drama and Theatre, Film/ New Media, Music, Dance, Visual Art. The organisers are open to a variety of presentational forms, including 25-minute papers, 90-minute workshops, short films, and performance pieces.

Please send your proposal (max. 300 words in English or German) together with a short bio (max. 50 words) by December 1, 2016 to . Prospective contributors will be informed by January 15, 2017. Updated conference information can be accessed at http://www.ucc.ie/en/scenario/scenarioforum/scenarioforum-conference2017/.

Selected papers will be published in SCENARIO Journal (http://scenario.ucc.ie) and/or the SCENARIO Book Series (http://www.ucc.ie/en/scenario/scenariobooks/).

The conference is organised by the Department of German, University College Cork, in close collaboration with the CASiLaC research cluster Culture as Performance – Performance as Culture in UCC’s School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Performance Practices.

Organising Team: Eucharia Donnery (Shonan Institute of Technology, Japan), Susanne Even (Indiana University, Bloomington, USA), Micha Fleiner (Xiamen University, China), Dragan Miladinovic (University College Cork), Erika Piazzoli (Trinity College Dublin), Manfred Schewe (University College Cork).