Migration, Performance & Policy study series
This interdisciplinary study series and study day explores the nexus between migration policy and performance. The series invites social scientists and humanities scholars who want to think together, beyond the questions and methods that dominate their own fields. The series focuses on two big questions: What can performance and performativity teach us about migration policies? What do migration policies teach us about performance in public and political discourse?
This study series is a collaboration between the University of Oxford’s TORCH Performance Research Hub, the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), and the Faculty of Music.
How to join
- Please take note of the in-person venues for each seminar.
- Seminars 1 & 3 in this series are hybrid.
- To join via Zoom, use the registration link. To register, you will need to enter an email address that is associated with a Zoom account (for example, your Zoom account might be linked to a personal or work account). If you don’t have one, please create a free account. If you use an unregistered account, you will receive a notification asking you to enter a known email address.
From Underground Rap to Tribute Song: Politics and Labour Migration in Nepal and the Philippines
Thursday 15 October, 3.45pm
Speakers:
- David Gellner, University of Oxford
- Krishna Adhikari, University of Oxford (affiliate)
- Samantha Sebastian, University of Oxford
Chair: Carlos Vargas-Silva, University of Oxford
The first seminar considers two countries with significant labour out-migration populations: Nepal and the Philippines. The role of performance and popular culture in the politics around immigration is evident in both. The new prime minister of Nepal is a rapper-turned-politician, voted in following historic youth-led protests. In the Philippines, songs and voice have played an overt role in the narratives surrounding labour out-migration since its institutionalisation under the first Marcos regime.
Venue: The Hub, Kellogg College, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/8CUhA7m9TkqKIkSWhjgCRQ
From Photos to Forensics: Borders and Fatalities in Calais, Italy, and the Mediterranean Sea
Thursday 29 October, 3.45pm
Speakers:
- Georgia Doná, University of East London
- Emma Cox, Royal Holloway, University of London
Chair: Samantha Sebastian, University of Oxford
This session brings together researcher-practitioners whose work addresses transit spaces at the forefront of current geopolitical discussions: Calais, France and the Mediterranean Sea. Performance offers insights through practice-based methods and a platform for amplifying activism. The session considers questions of agency, the precarity of forced liminality, the gendered dynamics of migration, war, and poverty, and the publicity of migration fatalities.
Venue: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG (Seminar Room 00.063)
This seminar is in-person only.
From Iranian Classical Music to Bad Bunny: Resistance and Global Cultures in France, Canada and the US
Thursday 12 November, 3.45pm
Speakers:
- Carlos Vargas-Silva, University of Oxford
- Lorane Prevost, University of Oxford
Chair: John Gledhill, University of Oxford
The presenters will consider music performances in three countries: Canada, France, and the US. Persian classical music and Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl reveal how cultural forms are resistant to and yet shaped by domestic immigration policies, crossing yet reifying international borders. The session highlights the interdependencies between sending-transit-receiving countries, inviting interrogation of the series’ framework in anticipation of the culminating study day to follow.
Venue: Seminar Room, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN
Study Day: Migration, Performance, Policy
A day for interdisciplinary thinking about the nexus between migration, policy and performance.
Please note that this study day is in-person and for pre-registered participants only.
Venue: Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG
The study day will begin at 9:45 am and run until 5 pm. Registration will open at 9 am.
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/8CUhA7m9TkqKIkSWhjgCRQ
