BRAZILIAN JOURNAL ON PRESENCE STUDIES
Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença
PERFORMING ARTS IN THE FACE OF CONSERVATISMS
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Brazilian Journal on Presence Studies [Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença], an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that does not charge any submission or publication fees, is accepting until July 31, 2018 submissions of unpublished papers within the scope of the general topic.
PERFORMING ARTS IN THE FACE OF CONSERVATISMS.
The classical political conservatism, as a reaction to the French Revolution – and as it was expressed by Edmund Burke, among others –, was opposed to liberalism and its ideology of progress on behalf of tradition. At that moment, this did not mean something “to be kept” only, more that the vital foundation of a society was imposed there.
The current conservatism, which is necessary to distinguish from merely reactionary ideologies, is not defined as opposition to progressivism, nor to liberalism itself. It is about, rather, a movement that opposes utopic dimensions contained in and guided by the aegis of change. When considering that it is less the past that must be kept than a certain view of the present, the contemporary conservatism puts into question the utopic dimension – which is the domain?, for instance, of artistic creation since the beginning of the 20th century. Here, the invention of the new, as prefiguration of a future, is defined in the radical discontinuity in relation with the past. This element was, also the basis of the avant-garde.
Thus, we are faced with a paradox: how to reinvent a utopic art in the midst of political configurations marked by neoliberal conservatism? Progressivism, in the way that it is conceived by neoliberalism, is founded under the idea of a future as a mere development of the present, as something, in a large extent, predictable, measurable, estimable from a “scientific” rationalization of the present. However, if the aim of artistic creation is the production of an unprecedented and critical look on the present, it must be founded on a completely distinct view of the future.
From the creative point of view, the future is not “predictable” or deducible at all, but it is, rather, always to be reinvented. In this condition, the future is a space of virtual possibilities that may be accomplished or not. Therefore, we ask: how can the act of creation in performing arts happen in face of neoliberal conservatism?
In fact, defending habits and costumes has been imposed as a recurrent operation, and, over all, as a reaction to a set of artistic actions in the last years. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS FIRST SENTENCE And this is not a local phenomenon. It is, perhaps even more, a globalized wave that is assumed to be guided by groups, mainly from the right, that try in a more or less
articulated way to keep certain precepts that only apparently had been already overcome.
There are several dimensions of the culture that act decisively in the support and dissemination of conservatisms. Religion, for instance, here plays a central role – and not only for the beliefs that it reveals and disseminates. Social networks, in turn, accelerate the rhythm with which microfascisms, prejudices and remarkably retrograde positions are propagated and call for certain subjects to assume a particular position.
Therefore, it is understood that conservatisms do not individual positions of certain groups only. They are disseminated in the social fabric and align comfortably with several promises of the neoliberal machinery. In the new conjuncture of capital, knowledge has a linear trajectory, namely towards the market. In this way, conservatisms, capital and knowledge play a game in which inequalities are the logical effects.
This global scenario cooperates for a certain view of the world to be maintained, assuring that certain groups keep the social and economic status that they have had for centuries. The effects of this link between conservatism, knowledge and capital expand ceaselessly, keeping countries and populations subaltern and poor.
In the face of such a problematic scenario, what should the role of the performing arts be? Diagnosing, proposing, questioning? How has contemporary art expressed these paradoxes? How does the education in performing arts prepare one for a world in transition in the midst of such conservatisms? What is left to artists and teachers in their social role in a world where conservatism emerges from under new masks?
For this problematization of Performing Arts in the Face of Conservatisms, the Brazilian Journal on Presence Studies aims to provide an opportunity to explore the topic from various perspectives. The authors may develop theoretical essays or papers resulting from empirical and/or historical research on the Performing Arts and their distinct variations in relation to one or more of the following topics:
• Performance and conservatism
• Conservatism and resistance in performing arts
• Policies of the stage and the stage of politics
• Conservatism and education in performing arts
• Performance: politics, migrations and conservatism
• History, memory and conservatism in performing arts
• Performances and conservative performativities
• Performance against conservatism
• Performance and social organizations
• Performance and social movements against the conservative
• Prejudices, fascisms and performance
• Performance, ethnic-racial relations and conservatism
• Performing practices, ethnic-racial relations and resistances
• Medias, performativity, social relations and conservatisms
• Performances, diversity and conservatism
• Racism and performance
• Conservative dramaturgies and contemporary performances
• Race, gender, religion, social class and other performative markers
• Conservatism, performance and decolonial practices
• Colonialism, post-colonialism and practices of the stage against
conservatisms.
The Brazilian Journal on Presence Studies accepts articles resulting from research conceptually linked to the fields of performance, theater, dance and other similar idioms, paying special attention to those using images and videos to develop their reflections. It also accepts articles from interconnected, related fields, which establish a dialogue with the Presence terms. Submissions should conform to the journal's standards and be posted directly into our submission system, where they will go through the general evaluation process. In order to submit a paper for this call, it is essential to select the proper section (Performing Arts in the Face of Conservatisms). We remind you that the journal does not charge for the submission or the publication and uses the double-blind peer-review system.
The text can be sent in Portuguese, Spanish, English or French and will be published in two languages. Authors who send texts in Portuguese and Spanish (and those who are Portuguese speaking) will be asked to send a translation in English. The journal will provide translation to Portuguese of those papers sent in English or French whose authors are native in these languages. Additional information can be found in the website; our guidelines can be found in “Author Guidelines”. Please note you may change the language of the website to English by going to the dropdown box under “Idioma” on the right handside of the page.