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Re-imagining Community: Understanding the Interplay of Identity, Citizenship, and Performance in Displaced Syrian PopulationsGerald Barton PitchfordThe seminar will take place at Ifpo at 2 pm (the seminar is not opened to public)Abstract:Artistic performances create community and allow for personal and collective identity exploration. For displaced populations where community formation is essential to survival, performance assumes an even greater importance. Theatre, music, dancing, and other performance mediums open a shared space where dislocated people unfamiliar to each other may find a common azimuth, even if only temporary, to communal belonging. The desire to belong and actions taken towards building community are at the root of active citizenship. In this dissertation I will read across several sites of performance by displaced Syrians in Jordan to understand how the discourse of citizenship circulates through communities without a nation.BiographyBart Pitchford is a PhD candidate in Performance as Public Practice at the University of Texas in Austin and a Teaching Excellence Fellow for 2015-2016. His dissertation examines the use of theatrical performance by and with displaced Syrians in Jordan. On a broader scope Bart is interested in locating diacritic markers of post-national citizenship in cultural performance. In addition to his academic pursuits, Bart is also engaged in developing a multi-modal understanding of sound in the theatrical space that transcends the instrumentality of prevalent contemporary sound designs.&#160;