Performing Noncitizenship

Asylum Seekers in Australian Theatre, Film and Activism

By (author) Emma Cox

Publication date:

01 May 2015

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783084005

This exacting study examines the theatre, film and activism engaged with the representation or participation of asylum seekers and refugees in the twenty-first century. Cox shows how this work has been informed by and indeed contributed to the consolidation of ‘irregular’ noncitizenship as a cornerstone idea in contemporary Australian political and social life, to the extent that it has become impossible to imagine what Australia means without it.

Introduction: Framing Noncitizenship; 1. The Politics of Innocence in Theatres of Reality; 2. Domestic Comedy and Theatrical Heterotopias; 3. Territories of Contact in Documentary Film; 4. The Pain of Others: Performance, Protest and Instrumental Self-Injury; 5. Welcome to Country? Aboriginal Activism and Ontologies of Sovereignty; Conclusion: A Global Politics of Noncitizenship; Notes; Bibliography; Index

‘A welcomed addition to the growing field of theatre studies in exile, mass migration, and activism, this book offers a telling reading of today’s Australia. It is a society and a culture shaped anew in the emerging public debate on the strategies of survival, culture and artistic output of the country’s noncitizens.’ —Yana Meerzon, University of Ottawa