MACMILLAN Performance, Feminism and Affect in Neoliberal Times (Contemporary Performance InterActions)

This book is a provocative new study of global feminist activism that opposes neoliberal regimes across several sites including Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The feminist performative acts featured in the book contest the aggressive unravelling of collectively won gains in gender, sexual and racial equality, the appearance of new planes of discrimination, and the social consequences of political economies based on free market ideology. The investigations of affect theory follow the circulation of intensities – of political impingements on bodies, subjective and symbolic violence, and the shock of dispossession – within and beyond individuals to the social and political sphere. Affect is a helpful matrix for discussing the volatile interactivity between performer and spectator, whether live or technologically mediated. Contending that there is no activism without affect, the collection brings back to the table the activist and hopeful potential of feminism. Review “This volume gathers powerful scholarship by a global roster of writers, also including Antje Budde, Sue-Ellen Case, Charlotte Canning, Sandra D’Urso, Sarah French, Rebecca Jennison, Aoife Monks, and Urmimala Sarkar Munsi. It details and analyses an extraordinary array of performance and art practices. It tells a resounding horror story about the global reach of neoliberalism, the disparity it brings, and the precarity it multiplies, especially for women. … it delivers the powerful, inspiring affect of feminist resilience and resistance.” (Jen Harvie, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, Vol. 8 (2), 2020) Review “This collection is a major achievement and shining testimony to the longevity and value of an  international research group of feminist scholars who over time have developed a penetrating critique of our (neoliberal) times, the virtues and liabilities of affect, and the ways they manifest in performances across the world.” (Janelle Reinelt, Emeritus Professor of Theatre and Performance, University of Warwick, UK) “In a spectrum of sharply inflected positions on the intersections of neoliberalism, affect and feminism, this assemblage of essays located in diverse geographical locations calls attention to the ways in which feminist performance continues to rage in multiple registers against the collusions of the state, the market, heteronormativity and racism.” (Rustom Bharucha, Professor in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India) “The four keywords that organize this important and timely collection evoke the most compelling intellectual and political issues of our time.  The global reach of sites considered and the range of state power expertly examined illustrates each essay’s significance and impact.  An excellent, lively, engaged, and inspiring read.” (Jill Dolan, Annan Professor in English and Professor of Theatre, Princeton University, USA) “This timely anthology examines how contemporary performance and intersectional feminism display complex affective responses to gendered life in neoliberal times. Arguing there is no resistance without affect, the book is also significant for its cross-cultural analysis and diverse case studies, offering insightful essays by leading scholars and new critical perspectives.” (Peter Eckersall, Professor of Theatre, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA) From the Back Cover This book is a provocative new study of global feminist activism that opposes neoliberal regimes across several sites including Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The feminist performative acts featured in the book contest the aggressive unravelling of collectively won gains in gender, sexual and racial equality, the appearance of new planes of discrimination, and the social consequences of political economies based on free market ideology. The investigation