Voicing Our Concerns: Attempts at Decentring German Theatre and Performance Studies

Abstract

The field of German Theatre and Performance Studies shows a lack of engagement with colonial history and questions of race. Its overwhelming whiteness manifests itself in a persistent ignorance of a decades-long tradition of works produced by women of colour, feminists, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) researchers and activists who have actively worked on decentring the discipline from a German-speaking context. This article, a critical conversation between four German theatre scholars, sets out to clarify what it means to decentre GTPS from a Western-centric focus and proposes some methodological solutions to achieve this goal. Through reflecting on our own educational experiences and the sharing of anecdotes from the classroom, we conclude that decentring means more than adding to the reading list, rather it entails a visceral, continuous unlearning of racist attitudes and methodologies and requires a careful positioning of teachers, students and researchers alike.