The Joint 2018 Asian Theatre Working Group Colloquium and International Federation for Theatre Research Regional Conference (IFTR-Asia) attempts to answer these general questions: What do we mean when we talk about bodies in Asian theatres and performances? What do we mean when we talk about Asian bodies in different performances outside the region? How does theatre affect the way we think about the bodies of Asians?

Possible sub-themes include but not limited to the following:

The Spectacularization of the Body in Asia (What does it mean when we think of the acrobatics in China, the thaipusam devotees in Malaysia and Singapore, ta’ziyeh devotees in the Middle East, the magdarame or self-flagellants in the Philippines as actors/performers? What is the implication of associating Asian rituals involving bodily spectacles or self-inflicted pains as theatre and performance?)

Performing Queer Asian Bodies (What does it mean to be an Asian Queer vis-à-vis theatre and performance? What is the relationship of the queer and body in Asian performances?)

Performing Displaced Bodies (Issues on representing the Asian immigrant / emigrant in theatre and performance. What is the implication of being Asian in Euro-American theatre?)

Gendered Bodies (What are the representation and ideologies of the masculine and feminine bodies in Asian Theatre and Performance? What does it mean when the masculine body is performed by a female body or vice versa?)

Asian Bodies Recuperated (many theorizations in theatre, performance and cultural studies took inspiration from performing bodies of Asians, issues and implications of such theories in general critical thinking)

Disembodiments (What does it mean when a body is treated as a formless creature in Asian societies?)

The Body as Medium (When the body is treated as a medium in theatre and performance, what does it mediate?)

Asian Corporeality and/in Choreography (Body-centered performance practices in Asia also provide a vital site for exploring the convergence of thought and action)

The Asian Body as Method (Exploring the possibility of the body – the Asian body – in performance as a starting point of philosophizing and intellectualizing)

Dates to Remember:

Submission of Abstract 15 August 2017 to 15 September 2017.

Notification of acceptance begins on 2 October 2017.

Registration opens on 1 November 2017.