| FA-51525-05 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Michael Ragussis | Ethnic Performance and National Identity in Georgian England | 7/1/2006 - 6/30/2007 | $40,000.00 | Michael | | Ragussis | | | | Georgetown University | Washington | DC | 20057-0001 | USA | 2004 | British Literature | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 40000 | 0 | 40000 | 0 |
Arguing that the theater exerted extraordinary power in defining, maintaining, disseminating, and finally undermining ethnic stereotypes in Georgian England, I analyze why and how the theater invented specific forms and strategies for these purposes. While analyzing the emergence of numerous ethnic, colonial, and provincial character types, I focus on the stage Scot, Jew, and Irishman--"outlandish Englishmen"-- to explore how the theater and the culture at large responded to a crisis in assimilation and acculturation when ideas of national identity were at their most fluid and unstable. In this way I locate ethnic performance, both on stage and off, at the critical moment of nation-formation in Great Britain. |