CFP: Performance: 10th Annual International Conference of the Centre for Phenomenology in South Africa

The 10th Annual International Conference of the Centre for Phenomenology in South Africa is pleased to invite submissions for its upcoming event on the theme of performance, to be held from 17-19 of November 2023 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference aims to explore the role of performance in philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the arts, and to examine its relevance in contemporary thought. 

Performance can be viewed in various ways, including in terms of the distinction, common to French authors in the 1960s, between the enunciated statement and the act of enunciation or speech act. This concept is central to the work of Foucault’s archeology, Lacan’s post-structuralist rehabilitation of the psychoanalytic tradition, and feminist theory, especially the work on performativity by Judith Butler and other fourth wave feminist theorists. Performance is also an enduring and crucial topic in dance and theatre studies. In addition, it has attracted significant attention in the philosophy of education.   

This conference will address various topics related to performance, such as the links between performance and gender studies, performance and the unconscious, performance and the body in dance and theatre, and the therapeutic value of performance. It will explore questions like how performance helps to account for the shift from structuralism to post-structuralism, and how performativity constitutes a sufficiently plastic concept in feminist theory.

Topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:

·       Performance, language, and speech act theory;

·       Enunciated/enunciation within Foucault’s archaeology and Lacan’s psychoanalysis;

·       Performance and life in Nietzsche and Artaud and their interpreters;

·       Performance and theatre, including the therapeutic value of performance;

·       The relation between theatre and dance as kinds of performance;

·       Performance and feminisms;

·       Perception and understanding a performance;

·       Performative acts and gender constitution;

·       Rituals and performativity;

·       Performance and pedagogies.

Submission:

Please send a 700 word abstract for blind review to [email protected]. The full paper should be no more than 3000-3500 words for a 30-35 min. presentation. Proposals for panel discussion are also welcome.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday the 18th of August 2023.

Conference fees:

The conference fee for 3 days is R750 whereas for 1 day it is R300. Students should apply for a bursary or a reduction. The conference will be hybrid.

For more information about the conference, please visit the website of the Centre for Phenomenology in South Africa: https://saphenomenology.wordpress.com. Alternatively, please contact one of the organizers: Rafael Winkler ([email protected]), Catherine Botha ([email protected]) or Abraham Olivier ([email protected]).