History in Performative Paradigms

Following a successful series of panels on "The Problem of History" at PSi in 2005, a working group will convene at the 2007 New York conference to discuss the theme

"History and Ideological Tactics:  Grouphood and Eventhood.” 

-How the methods, theoretical influences, and other disciplinary preoccupations of Performance Studies apply to the study of the past?

-Does historical inquiry impinge differently upon the idea of belongingness, ethnos, or a group?
 
-Is there comparability between the implications for studying groups and the how the contingency, repetition, or ephemerality of performance impinges upon the status of an event?
 
-How do historically-oriented scholars subject evidence about these issues to rigorous critique?
 
-How does the ephemerality, elusiveness, or transience of performance constitute problems of historical research, how do they need to be accounted for, and what are the options?

For more information, please contact the convenor: Tracy C. Davis, Northwestern University tcdavis@northwestern.edu.