TLRH | SCARF |Standing by Small Acts of Citizenship
Monday, 20 September 2021, 10 – 11am 
School of Creative Arts Research Forum | Standing by Small Acts of Citizenship: Contemporary Irish Theatre at the Faultlines of Social Change
A talk by Professor Brian Singleton as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum, hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub.
Book here
In the past two decades citizens of Ireland experienced two contrapuntal narratives about their own existence. The first was a narrative of austerity and neoliberal responsabilization of the individual from the panopticon of state politics. The second invited citizens to participate in collective political agency beyond party politics in two referenda to amend the 1937 Constitution: to redefine marriage to include those of the same sex in 2015, and to restore bodily autonomy to women in respect of the termination of pregnancy in 2018. Underpinning both narratives, however, were their emerging performers: newly politicised citizens who had been directly affected by the boom and bust capitalism either side of the millennium. And yet that bust had also strengthened their resolve to contest the state’s neoliberal and destructive ideology (a replacement for the former repressive theocracy), that according to Wendy Brown ‘transmogrifies every human domain and endeavor, along with humans themselves, according to a specific image of the economic’, (Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution, 2015: 10), and whereby the individual is held responsible for the fate of the state. Between these two narratives of the Irish state and its citizens, lies theatre, poster-child of Bailout Ireland’s economic identity, at the same time as swingeing cuts in arts funding were enacted before and after the EU-IMF financial bailout. But emerging from the economic abyss was ANU Productions, founded in 2009.
In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A.
Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: grilec@tcd.ie
Campus Location: Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Accessibility: Yes
Room: Online webinar
Research Theme: Creative Arts Practice, Digital Humanities, Identities in Transformation, Making Ireland, Manuscript, Book and Print Culture
Event Category: Alumni, Arts and Culture, Lectures and Seminars, Public
Type of Event: One-time event
Audience: Undergrad, Postgrad, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, Public
Cost: Free but Registration Required
More info: trinitylongroomhub-ie.zoom.us…
