Democracy and Cultural Exchange after the Arab Spring

FAIN: FA-252136-17

Jane E. Goodman
Trustees of Indiana University (Bloomington, IN 47405-7000)

Completion of an enhanced digital edition and book-length study that records and analyzes the intercultural exchange between an Algerian theater troupe and audiences in the United States.

In the humanities, intercultural exchange has been understood as a problem of translation not only between languages but also between cultures. I propose to explore problems of cultural translation, or the act of conveying one group’s history and experiences in terms that another group can understand. I do so via a study of an upcoming US government-sponsored tour by an Algerian theater troupe. The book follows the troupe from Algeria to the United States, showing how actors and audiences confront new views of their own and each other’s culture through theatrical performance. The book is envisioned as a multimedia work that will enable readers to experience (via embedded video) the events analyzed in the text as well as to explore links to primary research materials (such as theatrical scripts) that cannot be accessed via a traditional print book. The enhanced e-book is under contract with Indiana University Press.

Associated Products

Dreaming of Apples: Remediation and Intermediality in the Algerian Halqa (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Dreaming of Apples: Remediation and Intermediality in the Algerian Halqa
Author: Jane E Goodman
Abstract: This presentation is centered in the U.S. tour of the Algerian theater troupe Istijmam in the fall of 2016. The troupe presented the play Apples, written in the early 1990s by the esteemed Algerian playwright Abdelkader Alloula three years before he was assassinated by Islamist insurgents during Algeria’s bloody Dark Decade of civil war (1992-2000). I focus on how the actors shaped their bodies into artistic media. I consider how they brought together three theatrical lineages, putting the Algerian tradition known as halqa in dialogue with the theories and practices of Brecht and Grotowski. While the body is perhaps the oldest medium, this paper shows how it is made new in theatrical performance. Video examples accompany the presentation.
Date: 06/08/2017
Conference Name: African Artistic Practices and New Media: Intersections, Volatilities, Futures

Found in Translation: The Travels of Julius Caesar from Algeria to the United States (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Found in Translation: The Travels of Julius Caesar from Algeria to the United States
Author: Jane E Goodman
Abstract: Theater practitioners and performance studies scholars have historically shared the project of putting aspects of culture on display for reflexive critique. In this paper, I consider the problem of translation of theatrical works for international consumption. I ask how the Algerian play “Apples,” written by Abdelkader Alloula in 1993, was translated for performance in the US in 2016 by the Algerian troupe Istijmam. While the script posed issues in linguistic translation, the genre conventions and cultural dimensions proved more challenging. The play sets Algerian storytelling practices in relation to Brechtian techniques of epic theater, both of which forego linear development and feature actors moving among a range of roles. Such techniques, largely executed through the body, are intended to create distance between text, actors, and spectators that allow for cultural critique – a process Brecht called distantiation or alienation. How did this Algero-Brechtian project resonate with audiences in the United States? How was the apple, a luxury import in Algeria that symbolized the country’s failed opening to neoliberal democracy, made intelligible in the US, where apples are available in every corner market? How did the embodied techniques of distantiation used by the actors serve both to translate and to critically stand apart from the theatrical work? By examining the US performances of Apples, I explore new intersections between ethnography and theater, asking whether and how theatrical critique translates when it travels. As part of the translation and coaching team, I also position myself between ethnographic and theatrical work.
Date: 11/30/2017
Conference Name: American Anthropological Association

Apples by Istijmam Culturelle (Web Resource)
Title: Apples by Istijmam Culturelle
Author: Jane E Goodman
Author: Abdelkader Alloula
Abstract: Video of the Algerian play "Apples" performed at Indiana University in English. The play was written by Abdelkader Alloula and performed by Istijmam Culturelle as part of Center Stage, a program of the US State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qil7osS76GY
Primary URL Description: Video of the Algerian play "Apples" performed at Indiana University in English. The play was written by Abdelkader Alloula and performed by Istijmam Culturelle as part of Center Stage, a program of the US State Department, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Cultural Encounters in Uncertain Times: Algerian Actors Tour the United States (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Cultural Encounters in Uncertain Times: Algerian Actors Tour the United States
Abstract: Public video screening and discussion of the Algerian play Apples, as performed in English by the Algerian theatre troupe Istijmam. This gritty, intimate production, full of dark humor and barbed observation, bears witness to Algeria's shadowed past and confronts the complex destiny of the present day. The realities of living under Algeria’s authoritarian regime following the country’s failed transition to democracy eerily resonate with both the aftermath of the Arab Spring and the present situation in the United States.
Author: Jane E Goodman
Date: 02/19/2018
Location: Reed College, Portland Oregon
Primary URL: https://events.reed.edu/event/cultural_encounters_in_uncertain_times_algerian_actors_tour_the_united_states#.W9Mvi0VKh-U
Secondary URL: https://ensemble.reed.edu/hapi/v1/contents/permalinks/Qt9k7SKz/view
Secondary URL Description: This is the video taken at Reed College of my presentation of the play followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Algerian Actors Tour the US: Video Screening and Discussion (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Algerian Actors Tour the US: Video Screening and Discussion
Abstract: Video screening and discussion of the Algerian play Apples by Abdelkader Alloula, as performed by Istijmam Culturelle
Author: Jane E. Goodman
Date: 05/08/2018
Location: Indiana University

Embodying Halqa: Algerian Storytelling on a Global Stage (Article)
Title: Embodying Halqa: Algerian Storytelling on a Global Stage
Author: Jane E Goodman
Abstract: The Algerian theater troupe Istijmam was selected to tour the United States in 2016 by the Center Stage program of the US State Department. They sought not only to bring a contemporary Algerian play but also to recreate for US audiences an experience of halqa – a traditional North African storytelling performance. Algerian playwrights had been experimenting with the halqa since the 1960s, putting it in dialogue with Brechtian styles of voicing and acting while bringing it to new audiences on a proscenium stage. Istijmam went further, attempting to recreate an embodied experience of halqa via a new mise-en-scène and a form of physical theater inspired by Grotowski. Whereas previous analyses have focused on the discursive organization of a halqa-style play, this essay also considers the halqa in terms of its mise-en-scène and its embodied materiality. The essay links to a US performance of the play on YouTube.
Year: 2018
Access Model: Jstor
Format: Journal
Publisher: Africa Today

Discussion of Apples (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Discussion of Apples
Abstract: Discussion of the play "Apples" in the class "Theatre History: Naturalism to 9/11" taught by Dr. Kate Bredeson at Reed College. Approximately 20 students in attendance.
Author: Jane GOodman
Date: 2/20/2019
Location: Reed College, Portland OR

Screening and discussion of Apples (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Screening and discussion of Apples
Abstract: Screening and discussion of Apples for the graduate theater seminar in theater history taught by Dr. Jennifer Goodlander at Indiana University. 8 students in attendance. Department of Theater and Drama.
Author: Jane Goodman
Date: 3/26/2018
Location: Bloomington IN

Staging Cultural Encounters: Algerian Actors Tour the United States (Book)
Title: Staging Cultural Encounters: Algerian Actors Tour the United States
Author: Jane E Goodman
Abstract: Staging Cultural Encounters tells stories about performances of cultural encounter and cultural exchange during the US tour of the Algerian theater troupe Istijmam Culturelle in 2016. The book follows the troupe as they prepare for an tour the US under the auspices of the Center Stage program, sponsored by the US State Dept to promote cross-cultural dialogue and understanding. The book takes up the conundrums of cross-cultural encounter, challenges in translation, and audience reception, offering a frank account of the encounters with US audiences and the successes and disappointments of the experience of exchange.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://iupress.org/9780253049629/staging-cultural-encounters/
Primary URL Description: Press website
Secondary URL: https://stagingculturalencounters.com/
Secondary URL Description: Website that accompanies the book
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780253049629
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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