Dis-Orient: Autumn Talks; Landscapes of Erasure and Presence

“Dis-Orient” is an encounter whereby a series of presentations | papers are delivered by the members of the cluster and by external Guests and Alumni. The latter will deliver purviews of artistic disciplines practiced at their homeland and that challenge the dominating grand narrative. 

Having as a title “Landscapes of Erasure and Presence”, the first encounter of “Dis-Orient: Autumn talks” will host three panelists sharing their research practices around architecture & theatre.  Thus, choreographies of spaces as architectural manifestations of monumentality, bigness and Mega-presence are negotiated and reshaped by the disenfrenchized in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. On a similar vein, on the stage, racial politics – most notably blackface performances – transform to be a vehicle for national identity building, modernization and decolonization in China while in Turkey, Karagoz a phallic shadow theatre figure during the Ottoman empire is subject to castration during the Modern Turkey. 

Presentations: 

“Censoring the little man- a Karagoz story” | Duygu Monson Erdogan

“Beyond Bigness: Landscapes of the disenfranchised in Mega Cities” | Lamis Ashour

“Performing race in early modern China” | Weiyu Li 

We would be happy if you can attend. For reservations, please sign up here/

PS: Reservation on Eventbrite is required. Seating is limited due to Covid-Safety measures.

About C.O.M.R.A: 

C.O.M.R.A – an acronym for Conjecture | Other | Meet | Reckon| Acknowledge –  was founded by a group of international graduate students at the University of Washington. Decentering the dominant narratives in the Humanities’ field is one of the germane foregrounds hoped to be achieved by the Cluster’s members. C.O.M.R.A’s main objectives are to challenge the Eurocentric approaches to Literature, Arts and Social sciences by highlighting the scope of aesthetical practices elsewhere and by unfolding other ways of knowing.