Ranciere and Performance

This is the first collection on Rancière, a key thinker of political philosophy and aesthetics, which deals explicitly with the implications of his thought on theatre and performance studies.

Jacques Rancière has been hugely influential in field of political philosophy and aesthetics. This edited collection is the first to investigate the points of contact between the work of Rancière and the field of theatre and performance studies. From theatrocracy to emancipated spectators, recent scholarly works in this discipline have drawn upon concepts from Rancière’s writing to investigate problems of audience, participation, politics and pedagogy. Before these concepts and critical tools peel away from the works through which they emerged, this book seeks a detailed critical assessment of the works themselves and their implications for theatre and performance studies. The collection examines the critical and analytical interventions that have been made to date and looks forward, towards challenges to the future uses of Rancière’s work in performance. This book project includes work by fourteen scholars and is an essential resource for researchers and academics working in all areas of performance and identity, performance and activism, and performance and philosophy.