CALL FOR PARERS: Performing Ethnicity

Performing Ethnicity, a conference marking the centennial of the St. Louis World's Exposition October 15-17, 2004, City College of the City University of New York

Deadline for Submission of Abstract: April 30, 2004

The St. Louis World's Fair or the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 showcased the grandeur of empire. The United States&Mac226; technological supremacy distinguished it from both the advanced nations and colonies of the time. To commemorate the Louisiana Purchase that consolidated the American nation and empire, the St. Louis World's Fair was conceived not only to be the most expensive but also to be bigger and more majestic than any since the first world&Mac226;s fair in London in 1851. As the crowing display of American imperial power, the fair , highlighted "how a single century of free institutions and unfettered enterprise can transform a wilderness into populous, rich, and progressive commonwealths."

The message, like imperialism itself, had explicitly racialized overtones. Thousands of Igorots, Moros and Visayans from the Philippines; Eskimos, Cocopa, Sioux, Klaokwaht, Cheyennes, Maricopa, Prima Indians; Batwa of the Congo; Patagonian Giants; and Ainus of Japan were paraded and displayed in sections meant to evoke these people&Mac226;s national settings. These displays grew so popular that future fairs included them as a matter of course. The Philippine Exhibit, for example, became a mainstay in the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909 and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The displays also became pivotal resources in efforts to educate Americans about the importance of racial and ethnic segregation to the American imperial project. These displays contained school houses and classrooms, alongsidethe spectacle of Igorot dog slaughter or the public viewing of an Ainu baby.

The conference Performing Ethnicity examines the legacies of the St. Louis World's Fair that highlighted racial difference in the American imperial project. It provides a venue for articulating and interrogating race and ethnicity as represented in the Fair, and how these categories become integral and nominal in United States&Mac226; consolidation as an imperial power. How did the fair represent racial and ethnic categories?? How do notions of display, parade, spectacle, exposition, exhibition and visuality inform issues of representation in culturally specific performances, contemporary media and politics? What legacies from the Fair continue to inform contemporary discourses on race and ethnicity? Who has the right to represent, to speak on behalf of, whom? Whose interests are foregrounded and foreclosed in the performance of ethnicity? How do artists confront issues of self-exoticism, and the marketing of „ethnic‰ writers and artists as celebrities? How do recent media events romanticize and perform the violence of empire and race?

Performing Ethnicity seeks papers from the diverse disciplines of performance, ethnic, visual, area, media and cultural studies, as well as anthropology, political science, sociology, philosophy and the sciences.. The centennial commemoration of the Fair provides an opportunity for multidisciplinary , multicultural, transnational and multimedia introspection to lay bare the foundational elements of American imperial power and to create critical conversation among scholars, artists and writers from diverse ethnic and racial communities and cultures.

DEADLINE for submission of abstract is on 30 April 2004.

THE ARTS FESTIVAL
The conference will coincide with a two-week arts festival featuring exhibits, theater, music, and dance performances as individual and collective responses to the questions raised by the conference. Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaborations will be supported between local and international artists of varying ethnic backgrounds to investigate the legacies of the 1904 St. Louis World&Mac226;s Fair and how they impact contemporary issues of cultural representation, staged marginalities, appropriation and globalization. Individual artists interested in participating should contact Ma-Yi Theater Company at: ralph.pena@ma-yitheatre.org.

Submit abstracts via email to:
priscelina.legasto@up.edu.ph
mjbarrio@info.com.ph
tolentino@hcn.zaq.ne.jp
Registration:
Registration fee is $150 when paid before July 31, 2004
On-site registration fee is $180. .

Accommodation:
Hotels offering discounted rates will be announced later.

Conference Organizers:
The Conference is co-sponsored by Ma-Yi Theater Company, the City College of the City University of New York, the University of the Philippines System, and Philippine Forum.