Stories from under Occupation: Performing the Palestinian Experience
A plethora of research has been done on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; however, few have ventured to investigate and theorize its subjects or the articulation of Palestinian culture. Theatre and drama in the Arab world are under-researched, and when cultural production is studied, Palestinian theatre is nowhere mentioned. The history of Palestinian theatre dates back to 1850 when it was in tune with the neighboring cultural centers of the Arab world, i.e. Beirut and Cairo. Occupation since 1967 has had a great impact on Palestinian theatre, which has become a vehicle for asserting Palestinian identity and collective memory in the face of cultural annihilation. Through the use of al-Hakawati (the traditional storyteller) combined with narratives of memories, current theatre aims to portray life in turmoil caused by the political situation and the frustrations of the peace process with Israel.
The semiotics of theatre
This article is reprinted with permission from the French original published in Versus (No. 21, 1978). It is one of a number of papers published dealing with five specific questions posed by Marco de Marinis on the semiotics of theatre. The version which appears was translated by Tjaart Potgieter.
Negotiating the cultural and economic outcomes of sport heritage attractions: the case of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
ABSTRACT Contemporary museums must balance their roles as commercial entities and repositories of various, and often dissonant, heritages and histories. Sports museums in particular often have clear commercial and nostalgic aims, particularly through tourist visitation, though the extent to which they represent more challenging narratives remains unclear. This paper examines how one of the most famous sports museums in the world, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York, balances its dual role as tourist attraction and repository of baseball's sometimes checkered past. It was found that different sections of the museum provide greater or lesser degrees of engagement with more controversial issues, although the commercial outputs and appeal of the museum remains clear throughout. Utlimately, the NBHF demonstrates that balancing veneration and critique in collections can be commercially prosperous, and can provide a template for other sport and popular culture museums who may be wary of incorporating more challenging narratives in their exhibits. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between the Hall of Fame and the village of Cooperstown, particularly in creating and maintaining cultural and economic outputs, requires further exploration.