Research on Transcultural Theatre: From the Perspective of the Alien

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H02304
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Art at large
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Eiichiro Hirata 慶應義塾大学, 文学部(三田), 教授 (00286600)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 針貝 真理子 東京藝術大学, 音楽学部, 准教授 (00793241) ; 北川 千香子 慶應義塾大学, 商学部(日吉), 准教授 (40768537)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 文化研究 / 演劇研究 / オペラ研究 / 文学研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The members of the three-year-JSPS Research Project “Transcultural Theatre” organized three international symposiums and ten workshops with theatre and dance researchers, opera directors, choreographers from East Asia, Europe and Africa. The research members presented the papers on cultural issues and theatre at the conferences of Japanese Society of Theatre Studies, International Brecht Society and Academy of Arts Berlin.
The project based on the cultural theory of the philosopher Bernhard Waldenfels, investigated art and theatre works which confront the audiences with the strangeness in their own culture. Strangeness derives not only from other cultures but also from their own. Art and theatre works enable the audiences to experience and reflect the strangeness of their own in specifically playful ways. These experiences can lead us to having wider and more flexible visions to their relationship to other cultures as well as to strange aspects of their own.

Free Research Field

演劇研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年、世界の多くの国々で、地域・伝統文化を重んじる「文化的アイデンティティ」の傾向が高まっている。文化的アイデンティティは、地域や国がその統一性をアピールするのに役立つ一方、同一文化内における個の多様性が軽視されたり、異文化を自文化と明確に異なるものとして強調することで、排外主義を助長しうる。本研究は異質性を異文化だけでなく、自文化にも見出して、自文化の自明性を問い直すことで、自文化と異文化の複雑な関係性への繊細な見方を可能にする。その見方は、文化が一般的に考えられる以上に多様であることを私たちに気づかせ、その多様性こそが私たちの個性を尊重する真の多元文化社会を促進すると考えられる。