Ritual Meets the Postmodern: Contemporary Mexican Theatre

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (31) ◽  
pp. 221-225
Author(s):  
Adam Versényi
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
American Theatre ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
American Society ◽  
Latin American Theatre

Adam Versényi here considers responses to the call for a new kind of Latin American theatre, combining anthropological awareness of the area's history and culture with the technical abilities and thematic sophistication of western theatre, through an analysis of two plays which suggests both the benefits and pitfalls of such an approach. These are Nahui Ollin, a shadow-puppet play dramatizing episodes from Nahuatl cosmogeny, and Los enemigos, a contemporary adaptation of the unique Mayan script, the Rabinal Achí. Adam Versényi has written widely on the theatre of Latin America, including a study of recent developments in liberation theology and liberation theatre, and for NTQ two articles on earlier periods – in NTQ16 (1988), on the theatricality of pre-Columbian performance rituals, and in NTQ19 (1989) on the adaptation of Aztec rituals by the mendicant friars who came in the wake of Cortés – this piece being selected as the ‘Younger Scholar's Prizewinning Article’ of the year by the American Society for Theatre Research.

An Emerging Social Ethics

Pneuma ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 477-499
Author(s):  
Néstor Medina
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Historical Origins ◽  
Latin American Population

Abstract This article proposes that a new pentecostal social ethic is emerging in the region. Examining recent developments of Pentecostalism in Latin America along with Latin American scholars, I will discuss, in thematic form, some of the recent developments affecting pentecostal movements in the region from revising its historical origins, celebrating its internal diversity, reconsidering political involvement, reclaiming the crucial role of women’s contributions, to developing a social ethics seeking to respond in relevant ways to the social issues confronted by the Latin American population. Though the influence of liberation theology is noticeable, these groups are drawing on the pentecostal experience to reinterpret their relationship with the larger social context and internally. Particular attention is given to the great internal diversity within pentecostal movements in Latin America

Searching for El Dorado: Performance and Ritual in Early Latin America

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (16) ◽  
pp. 330-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Versényi
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
World View ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
El Dorado

The quasi-theatrical kinds of performance-ritual which existed in pre-Columbian Latin America have been little investigated, and are almost entirely neglected by English-speaking theatre scholars. In NTQ 8, Robert Potter looked at ways in which the missionaries who followed in the wake of the Spanish conquistadores tried to adapt Aztec rituals to their own proselytizing purposes: and here, Adam Versényi, in the first of a series of articles on early Latin American performance, provides an overview of the ways in which the great pre-Columbian civilizations embraced performance into their often-unfamiliar world view – suggesting that in some cases the cosmogony expressed through the dramatic rituals made them particularly ill-equipped to confront the ‘otherness’ of the invading Spaniards. Adam Versényi is currently preparing a study which parallels recent developments in Liberation Theology and Liberation Theatre in Latin America.

Latin American(ist) Theatre History: Bridging the Divides

2006 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-215
Author(s):  
Jean Graham-Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Theatre ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Latin American Theatre ◽  
The U.S

In October 2004, I edited Theatre Journal's special issue on Latin American theatre. In addition to five essays on subjects ranging from sixteenth-century Amerindian performance to a twenty-first-century Mexican adaptation of an Irish play, that issue included a forum on the state of Latin American theatre and performance studies in the United States today. Even though the thirteen respondents resided, independently or as affiliates, in different disciplinary homes (theatre, performance, languages, and literature) and took multiple points of departure, a common thread ran throughout their comments: the need for the U.S. academy to study and teach the diversity that is known as Latin America.1 Tamara Underiner succinctly notes that “Latin America has never answered easily as an object of inquiry for theatre studies.”2 Indeed, studying Latin American theatre and performance poses very specific challenges: the region encompasses some twenty countries whose national borders obscure larger geographical, cultural, religious, political, and socioeconomic networks; a multiplicity of languages—European, dialectal, and indigenous to the hemisphere—are still spoken, written, and performed; and numerous intersecting histories extend back far beyond the five hundred years since the Europeans arrived and precipitated what today we euphemistically refer to as “contact.” Latin America does not terminate at the U.S.–Mexican border; thus although I'm cognizant of the attendant complications when including the U.S. latino/a communities in a discussion of Latin American theatre, the cultural network is such that I consider any arbitrary separation counter to the purposes of this reflection. Otherwise, how can we take into account the larger networks navigated by such U.S.-based playwrights as Guillermo Reyes (born in Chile but raised in the United States and the author of plays about Chilean history as well as specifically U.S. identities) or Ariel Dorfman (born in Argentina, raised in New York City and Santiago, Chile, now a professor at Duke, and author of English-language plays whose subject matter is frequently authoritarian Latin America)?

Liberation Theology in Latin America: Antecedents and Autochthony

1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-370
Author(s):  
Alan Neely
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Objective Analysis

Liberation theology surfaced at Medellin in 1968. Professor Neely, whose eleven-year service in Colombia included that date, fully acknowledges the importance of the CELAM conference. However, he feels that the beginnings or antecedents of this movement can be traced to a number of sources both in Latin America and elsewhere. We're deeply indebted to the author for this careful, objective analysis which views the Latin American developments in terms of a broader historical perspective.

scholarly journals Afectividad, política y conocimiento: resistencia al neoliberalismo desde la escena teatral latinoamericana

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 145-171
Author(s):  
Lola Proaño Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
American Theatre ◽  
Latin American Theatre

Este ensayo se pregunta por la forma en que se relacionan el poder y la vida en la escena teatral latinoamericana, y el peso de la afectividad en esa relación, ejemplificando las hipótesis propuestas en el análisis de Millones de segundos (Argentina 2017) y Simplemente José (Colombia 2012). El teatro es un territorio privilegiado para la expresión de la afectividad y es posible obtener conocimiento político a través de las sensaciones que los cuerpos transmiten. Siguiendo y discutiendo las propuestas del giro afectivo y con el concepto de atmósfera afectiva en mente, se propone leer las emociones que se despliegan en la escena como una forma de resistencia, desde la biopotencia al biopoder implementado por el neoliberalismo. Affectivity, Politics and Knowledge: Resisting Neoliberalism in Latin American TheatreAbstractThis article tries to answer the question of the articulation between power and life in the Latin American theatre scene. It reflects on the weight that affectivity has in that relationship in the field of politics, exemplified by the Latin American scene (Millions of Seconds, Argentina, 2018 and Simply José, Colombia, 2012). The theater is a privileged territory for the expression of affectivity, and it is possible to obtain political knowledge through the sensations/emotions that the characters and their bodies transmit in the scene. Discussing the affective turn theory with the help of the affective atmosphere concept, we propose to read the emotions that unfold on the scene as a form of resistance to the biopower implemented by neoliberalism. Recibido: 03 de mayo de 2020Aceptado: 29 de agosto de 2020

scholarly journals IDENTIDAD DE LA TEOLOGÍA LATINOAMERICA Y LA TEOLOGÍA DE LA LIBERACIÓN

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Jorge Costadoat Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Age Of Maturity ◽  
The Status ◽  
Original Speech ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Church

RESUMEN: El objetivo de esta investigación es suministrar argumentos para identificar la Teología latinoamericana con la Teología de la liberación, y viceversa. Entre estos argumentos se debe considerar la conciencia de alcanzar la “mayoría de edad” de la Iglesia en América Latina en el postconcilio; la convicción de los teólogos de la liberación de estar elaborando una “nueva manera” de hacer teo­logía; una toma de distancia del carácter ilustrado de la teología; y la posibilidad de reconocer en los acontecimientos regionales, particularmente en los pobres, un habla original de Dios. Este artículo pretende hacer una contribución al status quaestionis del método teológico.ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to provide arguments to identify Latin American Theology with Liberation Theology, and vice versa. Among these arguments, one should consider the awareness of the Church in Latin America reaching its “age of maturity” in the post-conciliar period. Other arguments are the conviction of liberation theologians to be elaborating a “new way” of doing theology; a distance from the illustrated characteristic of theology; and, the possibility of recognizing in regional events, particularly in the poor, God’s original speech. This article aims to contribute to the status quaestionis of the theological method.

Liberation Theology and the Central America Solidarity Movement

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-126
Author(s):  
Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Central American ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
School Of The Americas

This chapter examines the conditions that fostered liberation theology in Latin America. The chapter provides a brief overview of liberation theology’s central themes and how it fueled revolutionary movements in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It surveys the Catholic hierarchy’s responses, ranging from sympathy to condemnation, and highlights several US religious movements that expressed solidarity with Central American Catholics who were fighting for social justice. These organizations included Witness for Peace, which brought US Christians to the war zones of Nicaragua to deter combat attacks, and also Pledge of Resistance, which mobilized tens of thousands into action when US policy toward the region grew more bellicose. Finally, the chapter describes the School of the Americas Watch, which aimed to stop US training of Latin American militaries that were responsible for human rights atrocities.

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