Performing Narratives: The Aesthetics of Terror(ism) & Resistance on 21st Century Arab Stages (WT)
Supervisers: Prof. Dr. Alexandra Portmann, N.N
Until now, the 21st century describes a time that is scared with turmoil and tribulations within the Arab world. Beginning with the events of 9/11, the Arab world has been challenged with the socio-political notion of identity and belonging and became anew the object of Othering that is promoted predominately by the West. Looking at the 2000s until the early 2020s with the concept of Edward Said’s term orientalism, we find a revival of the Western Othering concept towards the Arab world that shifts the view from the ‹exotic Arab› to the ‹dangerous Arab› (Said 1978). During the 2000s and 2010s, we see several Western media depictions and Film productions that fuel this perception of the ascribed stereotype and portraying the Arab body specifically as the terrorist. With Hollywood blockbusters and hit series, such as Jarhead (2005), Homeland (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), American Sniper (2014), 13 Hours. The secret soldiers of Benghazi (2016) and many more, the US-narrative of the Arab as a terrorist has been uncritically manifested into the cinematic and performing arts. The dissertation will undergo the questions of to what extent does the ‘Arab body’ serve as a narrative to portray resistance or terrorism on 21st century stages and which narratives are negotiated to form an aesthetic of political violence that is written into theatre practices of the Arab World? It investigates the different performative narratives and aesthetics of terrorism and resistance and how these difficult categories are attributed to the 'Arab body' on contemporary stages. As the subject of research, the dissertation will follow different stage productions of festivals and Co-productions predominantly within the MENA-Region (Middle East and North Africa) and analyse the narratives on how political violence is negotiated on stage and associated with the Arab.
