Keynote Speakers

• Dr Angela McShane, Royal College of Art/ V&A
• Dr Eleanor Standley, University of Oxford/ Ashmolean Museum

Call for Papers

This conference will explore the concept of performance and its role in the construction of individual and communal identities.

From a person’s choice of dress in the morning to what they eat at night: When and how should we conceive of such everyday actions as having a role in the performance and construction of identities? How have public acts and rituals been used to construct and contest group identities? And how have the meanings of these performative acts endured or changed over time?

This conference seeks to interrogate the diverse ways in which performance theory can enhance our understanding of the construction of identities. It aims to draw together researchers from a broad range of disciplines, including: History, Art History, History of Design and Material Culture, Anthropology and Archaeology, Theatre, English, Classics and Film Studies.

Possible themes for 20 minutes papers include (but are not limited to):

• materiality, objects and works of art as Performance
• performative violence
• Rritual, ceremony and festivity
• sports and Recreation
• space and place Performing gender
• food and drink
• memory.

Speakers are invited to submit abstracts of 200 words in English, along with a short biography (approx. 100 words) to performingidentity2016@gmail.com by 31st March 2016.