Seems He a Dove : The Scripted and Un-scripted Masquerades of Conscientious Objection
- Submitting institution
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The University of Lancaster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 280606416
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
-
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- Book title
- Masquerades of War
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781138810693
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
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-
- Supplementary information
-
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- Request cross-referral to
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The central research question of this chapter questions the ways war refusers socially and theatrically perform political masquerade to navigate the legal and cultural framing of conscientious objection. This unique line of inquiry is situated within bodies of theory drawn from performance anthropology and sociology, but it aims to further our understanding of political and social dramaturgy by considering the theatrical elements of conscientious objectors’ social performances. A secondary aim of the chapter was to demonstrate the ways that performance theory might further Christine Sylvester’s concept of political masquerade, by outlining key principles for performance-based analyses.
This chapter resulted from the author's engagement with the Experiencing War research collective, led by Prof Christine Sylvester, which involved an international group of researchers from Gothenburg University, Lund University, the University of Connecticut, SOAS, Queen Mary, Oxford, and Warwick. The Experiencing War symposia aimed to bring together scholars and artists to analyse war at the level of individual experience, and thus to understand the physical and emotional impacts of international conflict.
This study used qualitative, interpretive methods, particularly performance analysis and participant observation. The chapter outlines key principles about masquerade as evidenced in historical performance practices, and then applies these principles to an analysis of the social performances of high-profile conscientious objectors in the United States and United Kingdom.
The analysis revealed that, given the cultural and political potency of historical masquerade, the social performances of conscientious objectors should be understood not only to acquire individual agency, but also a tool to mock and subvert the social stereotypes that underpin the legal and cultural constructions of conscientious objection. Positioned alongside chapters by eminent IR scholars, this chapter also provided a demonstration of the benefits of theatre and performance research for the field of international relations, thus promoting innovative avenues for future interdisciplinary collaborations.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -