Cluster organizers: Naomi Wells (Naomi.Wells@warwick.ac.uk) and Reagan Maiquez (rmai9@student.monash.edu)

This cluster adopts a broad understanding of the concepts of performance and narrative. It aims to incorporate theatre and performance studies; narrative and performative analysis through interviews, ethnography, literary or creative research methodologies; the location of narrative and performance in media, cultural, and institutional sites.

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Past events:

Inaugural Reading group

• Wednesday 1 June 2016
• Warwick: 9-10 am, International Portal (R0.12, Ramphal Building)
• Monash: 6-7 pm, International Portal (B461, Caulfield Campus)

This first meeting of the Performing Narratives cluster aimed to reflect on how we use and understand the concepts of performance and narrative in our own research, drawing from across disciplinary perspectives. We focused on the relationship between narratives and identities, with the following text circulated in advance as a starting point for discussion:

De Fina, Anna. 2015. ‘Narrative and Identities’. In: Anna De Fina and Alexandra Georgakopoulou, eds. The handbook of narrative analysis. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 350-68.

Questions addressed included:

• How do different sites and contexts (interviews, conversations, theatre performances, etc.) affect how narratives are performed and understood?
• What are the different genres or types of narrative we encounter in our own research (autobiographical, fictional, etc.)?
• How are narratives used and performed in relation to the expression and negotiation of collective and individual identities?
• How are narratives translated and performed across languages, cultures, media and spaces?