Current Publications

Introduction. Mapping the Terrain: Hong Kong, Singapore, and the City as Method

Author(s)
Rossella Ferrari, Ashley Thorpe
Abstract

The introduction draws upon the notion of ‘Asia as method’ to propose a new framework for the analysis of collaborative performance: ‘City as method’. Noting how Hong Kong and Singapore have shared and yet divergent histories, perspectives derived from area studies, post-colonialism, postmodernism, and interculturalism are deployed to demonstrate how ‘city as method’ facilitates a comparative analytical space that does not automatically connect intercultural collaborative projects with questions of national identity. Rather, a more fluid space emerges that is fundamentally ‘in-between’. As a significant conduit for this ‘in-betweenness’, the globalised city is characterised as a nexus of transnationalism, mobility, and collaborative practice. In such a liminal space, national geopolitics can be dislocated or reinforced according to the collaborative relationships between artists and the projects they pursue. ‘In-betweenness’ also leads a critique of the conception of the intercultural ecology a within theatre studies as horizontal and egalitarian. Instead, it is proposed that interculturalism is reliant upon disjuncture to make cities meaningful as physical sites. Such an interpretation supports the significance of ‘in-betweenness’ for the mapping of different strategies for city-to-city collaboration, which includes the affective landscapes that lie within as well as between cities. The introduction proposes that ‘city as method’ facilitates a greater understanding of the multiplicity of collaborative strategies and experiences that create place.

Organisation(s)
Department of East Asian Studies
External organisation(s)
University of London
Pages
1-30
No. of pages
30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003043157-1
Publication date
05-2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
604029 Theatre studies, 604006 Performing arts, 602037 Oriental studies, 605004 Cultural studies
ASJC Scopus subject areas
General Arts and Humanities, General Economics,Econometrics and Finance, General Business,Management and Accounting, General Social Sciences
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/e554f17b-5371-49ba-a7db-99324b1cf0c6