Call for Proposals
EMBODIED RESEARCH WORKING GROUP
International Federation for Theatre Research 2018
“Theatre, nation and identity: between Migration and Stasis” 
9-13 July 2018
Belgrade, Serbia 
From the imagined community of the nation to the detailed sedimentation of habitus and performativity through repeated actions, nation and identity are grounded first of all in embodiment and embodied practice. What we know in our bodies, over time, becomes who we are. While much has been written about embodiment and identity, the particular capacities of embodied research to intervene in these conversations remain to be widely demonstrated. How are national and other identities explored, troubled, transformed, constructed, and even created through embodied research? What can embodied research methodologies bring to scholarly discussions of identity, nation, and migration — and to the wider public spheres in which these concepts and images circulate? How can embodied researchers respond to the urgent political crises of our time?
The IFTR Embodied Research Working Group (ERWG) invites proposals for participation from scholars, artists, and others developing embodied research projects in any field. Proposals must be submitted through the IFTR registration process (see links below) by the conference deadline of 15 January 2018. Each proposal should be no more than 500 words, including a brief biographical statement and links to relevant audiovisual materials where possible. Please describe your current research and indicate what kind of material you would like to present for feedback at the 2018 ERWG meeting (for example: academic paper, video essay, practical workshop, or performance excerpt), with the intention of developing future practices and publications.
The format of the working group sessions will be determined on the basis of received proposals and will involve a combination of discursive, multimedia, and embodied exchange. Between annual conference sessions, ERWG works along three strands of activity: 1) Institutional Frameworks, expanding institutional models for embodied research within and beyond universities; 2) Interdisciplinary Connections, drawing connections between embodied research methods and critical thinking around gender, race, disability, anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies, and other fields and disciplines; and 3) Multimedia Publication, developing strategies and platforms for sharing and assessing embodied research through alternative modes of publication. Please indicate in your proposal how your research connects with one or more of these strands.
Proposals will be selected according to the following criteria: innovative implementation of embodied research methods; contribution to the geographic, cultural, and disciplinary diversity of ERWG; and relevance to ERWG’s three strands of activity. Priority will be given to participants in previous ERWG gatherings, but spaces will also be reserved for new members, especially from the conference region. Please contact the conveners with any questions.
Conveners:
Ben Spatz
b.spatz@hud.ac.uk
University of Huddersfield, UK
Elizabeth de Roza
elizabeth.roza@lasalle.edu.sg
Lasalle College of Arts, Singapore
Important links:
IFTR website
https://www.iftr.org/conference
IFTR bursary information
https://www.iftr.org/conference/bursaries
ERWG homepage
https://www.iftr.org/working-groups/embodied-research
IFTR registration at Cambridge Journals Online
http://journals.cambridge.org/iftr