This book re-evaluates the role of performance in global politics in the face of populism and the digital mediatisation of political interactions. As political communications are increasingly conducted in online environments,‘post-truth’ performances become evermore central to democratic processes. It is therefore essential to reconsider the political potency of performance and theatricality in order to effectively reinvigorate democracy in the 21st century. Drawing on applied theatre practices, this book shows that performance is inherently concerned with cooperative and collaborative encounters across difference, and performance might therefore support effective responses to digital populism. The analysis addresses the performative aspects of populist political movements in the United States and United Kingdom. The chapters engage with aspects of performance and theatricality not commonly broached in IR scholarship, including interpersonal engagement, creative embodiment and interactive affect, making the case for the importance of these features to democratic engagement. This book resonates with recent debates regarding the relevance and treatment of Arts and Performance as IR subjects, methodologies and practices, and will be of interest to scholars and students of global politics, international relations, performance studies, radical democracy, and mass communication and culture.
Author(s): Cami Rowe
Series: Interventions
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 187
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: Political Populism through the Lens of Performance
1. Performance and Politics
Interdisciplinarity: Creative Foundations
Theatre, Performance and International Politics
‘Noises Off’: Knowledge Waiting in the Wings
Practical Bases
Conclusion
2. Populism and Performance
The Problem of Populism
Characteristics of Populism
Left Populism
Digital Populism
Conclusion: Redeeming a Left Populism in Practice
3. Encounter and Engagement
Introducing Agonism
The Inadequacies of Agonism
Agonism as a Performance Practice
Applied Theatre and Agonistic Engagement
Difficultating
Conclusion
PART II: Political Embodiment in Digital Populist Contexts
4. Embodiment and Perception: Bringing the Inside Out
The Meaning and Matters of Bodies
The Materially Experienced Body in Political Interaction
The Body in Populist Politics
Corporeal Perception in Applied Theatre Practices
Conclusion
5. Embodiment and Relationality: Bringing the Outside In
Introducing Object Agency and Haptic Encounters
Haptic Encounters in Populism and Digital Populism
Insights from Applied Arts and Performance
Conclusion
PART III: The Affective and Aesthetic Dimensions of Populism and Performance
6. Fear and Failure
Approaches to Aesthetics, Emotion and Affect
Fear and Failure in Populist Politics
Emotions and Aesthetics in Digital Populism
Transforming Fear and Failure through Creative Practice
Conclusion
7. Pleasure and Beauty
Approaching Pleasure and Beauty
Populist Pleasure and Beauty
Beauty as a Creative Intervention
Conclusion: Bringing It All Together
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
