Performance in a Militarized Culture

The long cultural moment that arose in the wake of 9/11 and the conflict in the Middle East has fostered a global wave of surveillance and counterinsurgency. Performance in a Militarized Culture explores the ways in which we experience this new status quo. Addressing the most commonplace of everyday interactions, from mobile phone calls to traffic cameras, this edited collection considers:

How militarization appropriates and deploys performance techniques

How performing arts practices can confront militarization

The long and complex history of militarization

How the war on terror has transformed into a values system that prioritizes the military

The ways in which performance can be used to secure and maintain power across social strata

Performance in a Militarized Culture draws on performances from North, Central, and South America; Europe; the Middle East; and Asia to chronicle a range of experience: from those who live under a daily threat of terrorism, to others who live with a distant, imagined fear of such danger.