International Institute of Social History 11.04.2012-14.04.2012, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Deadline: 05.04.2011
ESSHC session: Performing as work (19th and early 20th century)
Performers - people who, in the broadest sense, perform art or entertainment for an audience - have been a subject of historical research only in a rather limited sense. The majority of research in this area focuses on a relatively small group of only the most famous performers involved in "highbrow" culture, whose lives have often been well-documented and closely analyzed. Yet the vast majority of lesser known artists and entertainers and the things they dohave rarely been investigated. We know little about who they were, how their activities were seen by themselves and other actors, or what meanings they ascribed to their performances. Exploring such questions will add new perspectives to the social history of music, the theater, and other fields. However, it will also contribute to the social history of work.
From a certain perspective, performing - including performing in the context of "highbrow" culture - can be seen as a special kind of work. Historically, it has been related to various discourses surrounding its value, like the immorality of entertainment, the cultural importance of art, and the characterization of performance as a leisure activity. As a result, it has been treated rather differently from other forms of work. By focusing on the activities of performers, we can question and examine more closely those conceptions of labour or work which are usually taken for granted. Understanding the relations between work, vocation, livelihood, entertainment, and art will also provide new insights into their meanings in diverse contexts. evelopments such as the formation of a leisure industry or mass access to assorted entertainments - often analyzed only from a cultural perspective - are relevant for understanding changes in the meaning of labour as well.
In order to promote the aforementioned perspectives, I am organizing a session on performing as a form of work for the upcoming European Social Science History Conference 2012, which will take place in Glasgow between April 14 and April 17. It is open to contributions that deal with performing by artists and entertainers of any kind of genre.
Examples of specific issues include (but are by no means limited to):
- the role of performance as a way to earn a livelihood
- the relation between performing and concepts such as art, labour, or tradition (both for the performers themselves and for others)
- the criteria used to differentiate between types of performance (such as art and entertainment, or professional performing and amateurishness)
- the long-term developments the activity of performing has gone through in different contexts
In order to enable links to be made between the different papers, the session will focus mainly on the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
All those interested in contributing to this session can send a short abstract of up to 400 words by April 5 2011 at the latest. There is also the possibility of joining the session as a commentator. Proposals from researchers of various academic backgrounds as well as PhD students are welcomed. Presentation should not exceed 20 minutes.
Georg Schinko
University of Vienna
+43 1 4277 41341
georg.schinko [at] univie.ac.at
[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Soz-u-Kult. AB]