Performance and Politics in a Digital Populist Age:Imagining Alternatives

Rowe, Cami (2022) Performance and Politics in a Digital Populist Age:Imagining Alternatives. Interventions . Routledge, London. ISBN 9780367424381

Abstract

This monograph has two key aims: First, it presents a critical interrogation of the potentials of performance as resistant global political practice in the 21st century. With reference to historical convergences of art and global politics, the book re-evaluates the role that performance might play in international politics given the rise of right-wing populism and the 'post-truth' mediatisation of political interactions. The book’s second aim is to provide a sustained analysis of performance as a process of international relations, based on practice-research by an author trained in both theatrical practice and IR theory. I argue that performance is inherently concerned with issues of cooperative and collaborative encounters across difference, and therefore performance practices might provide a window into international boundary-crossing that reveals broader truths for global politics in an era of digital populism. Engaging with aspects of performance not commonly broached in IR scholarship, the chapters will investigate practices of craft, community, embodiment, risk, and joy. The contents resonate with recent debates regarding the relevance and treatment of Arts and Performance as IR subjects, methodologies and practices.