Intermediality in Contexts of (Post-)Migration
ID
MSCA-2020-JHauthal02
Supervisors
Project description
With global mobilities increasing and diversifying, migration and postmigration have become central themes in the artistic production, giving expression to the changing realities of contemporary life worlds around the globe and, more particularly, in Europe. Both themes also often impact on the production, reception and institutionalization of contemporary artistic practice, resulting in uses of multilingualism and interculturality in ways that depart e.g. from the idea of a (national) literary canon or the dramatic tradition of a national theater. Often, intermediality plays a central role in art that is attune to the experience of intra- and non-European migration, refugeeism and hybrid identities in the (post-)migratory societies of our times.
Janine Hauthal is a specialist in (Anglophone) drama and theatre. Having initially specialized in metadrama and its reflection of media and genres, lately, her research has increasingly focused on the role of intermediality, multilingualism and migration in contemporary postdramatic theatre (texts). Her recently published articles explore how British plays ‘provincialize’ Eurocentric history and how postdramatic theatre engages with migration, cosmopolitanism and cross-cultural encounter. She has contributed to Modern Drama’s special issue on Migration and Multilingualism (61.3, 2018; edited by Yana Meerzon et al.) and is currently working towards a contribution for the Handbook of Theatre and Migration (Palgrave, 2022; for a list of publications, see: www.vub.be/en/people/janine-hauthal). She is chair of VUB’s Centre of Literary and Intermedial Crossings (CLIC) which hosts the annual Lorand Chair in Intermediality Studies. As of October 2020, Janine Hauthal holds a research professorship in the field of intermediality studies at VUB and organizes an inaugural lecture series focusing on recent developments in the field.
Researchers interested in an advanced project focused on intermediality in contexts of migration and postmigration in and beyond Europe are invited to discuss ideas in the context of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship submission. Research projects may concentrate on exploring intermediality’s external functions and/or the interplay between aesthetic and socio-political functions. Researchers fascinated by (post-)migratory aesthetics in media beyond the field of drama and theatre are equally invited to get in touch.
About the research Group
Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings
The Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings brings together researchers in the field of literary, theatre and performance studies. CLIC offers scholars an interdisciplinary network to stimulate research along three key concepts: Media, Genres and Spaces.
MEDIALiterature, theatre and performance traditionally belong to specific medial systems. However, these systems often interact in hybrid, intermedial ways. Definitions of intermediality range from a broad view on crossings between distinct media such as literature and theatre, to a more specific focus on the incorporation of one medium in another (e.g. the use of images or documentary material in literary texts). Methodological issues, too, challenge both practitioners and scholars.
GENRESThe generic classification systems of literature and media, based on stylistic and structural features, are never neutral or ahistorical categories. They produce and communicate meaning, and also change over time, in response to specific socio-cultural but also political and economic contexts. Authors and artists often consciously renew, transgress or mix genre conventions, and thus influence the reception of literature and theatre.
SPACESSpace has become an ever more influential and highly diversified theoretical category – ranging from the urban space of modernism to the contact zone of postcolonial theory and the rhizomatic network of the megalopolis. Through imaginary topographies and theatrical scenographies, transnational and multilingual identities are negotiated and disputed, as are new forms of politically committed artistic production.