Conjoined Histories: Race, Disability, and Popular Performance in the 19th Century

This from the UCB Disability Studies list serv:

Conjoined Histories: Race, Disability, and Popular Performance in the 19th Century



Friday, March 11, 2011, 1:30-6pm
Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public

Organized by the Arts Research Center and the  Disability Studies Program at UC Berkeley, in conjunction with the premier of Philip Kan Gotanda's play I  Dream of Chang and Eng in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Perormance Studies, this symposium will use the astonishing story of Chang and Eng Bunker—the original "Siamese twins"—as a starting-point to explore issues of race, disability, and popular
performance in the United States in the 19th century.

Symposium participants will include: Peter Glazer, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, UC Berkeley Philip Kan Gotanda, playwright and visiting scholar, UC Berkeley Eric Hayot, Comparative Literature, Pennsylvania State University Shannon Jackson, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies and Rhetoric, UC Berkeley Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, UC Berkeley Samuel Otter, English, UC Berkeley  Lena Reynosa, UC Berkeley Ellen Samuels, English and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison Susan Schweik, English, UC Berkeley Shannon Steen, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, UC Berkeley Cynthia Wu, American Studies, SUNY Buffalo.

The symposium will end with a reception and be followed by a 8pm performance of I Dream of Chang and Eng (tickets available from the TDPS Box  Office, $10-15). A schedule detailing the times and topics of each panel will be posted in January.

This event is co-sponsored by the Arts Research Center, Disability Studies Program, American Cultures Program, Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Race and Gender,  Department of English, and Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at UC Berkeley.