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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Deterritorialization and Modernization Notes taken on October 24, 2016 by Edward Tanguay |
the relation between theater, globalization, and mobility
mobility is understood in two ways
people relocated to different parts of the globe in the 19th and 20th centuries
their theatrical cultures followed them
theatrical actors and performances which moved around the world
coined by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
referred to a type of fluid subjectivity
most globalization theories use the term in a cultural sense
the experience of being disconnected from traditional cultural matrices by the experience of migration
Arjun Appadurai: deteritorialization is displacement
one of the central forces of the modern world
relocating and mixing different classes of people
creating exaggerated attachment to politics and religions of home, often resulting in fundamentalism
creating new artistic and media markets in the diaspora
a way of thinking about cultural contact in spatialized terms
culture is tied to territory
if territory is left or lost, then so is the culture
cultures are passed down by human beings who carry their cultures with them
when they relocate, so do their cultures and cultural practices
these altered forms are sometimes spoken of in negative terms
also have productive forces
therefore deterritorialization is not entirely a negative force
people use media and their imagination to combat the effects of deterritorialization
leads to reterritorialization
new ties are established with the new cultural space
via television, Internet, theater
the theatricality of mobility
the means of transportation and communication that made this expansion possible
shipping lines, railways, telegraphic communication
without with theater on the move would have been impossible
one of the most controversial terms in our vocabulary
it often stands for exploitation as well as benefit
it is seldom used in terms of theater, but it should be
the introduction of mainly western technologies and institutions to societies which had been traditional in outlook
while it is clear that the implementation of telegraphic communication, railways, and printing presses in this sense, we should also include western style theater
Eric Hobsbawm, "The Age of Empire"
"Certain institutions typified the zone of development of European domination, notably the essential secular university, which did not exist outside this zone and, for different purposes, the Opera house. Both these institutions reflects the penetration of the dominant Western civilization"
universities and opera houses came to be seen as symbols of modernization
modernization led to a wide range of responses to the way modernity and modern institutional patterns and dynamics
institutions must be seen in terms of their cultural variability and not as monolithic entities
modernity is a process of adaptation and cultural variability
while the technologies of modernization were relatively similar, the responses were manifold