Performance in the Borderlands

Performance in the Borderlands critically examines a range of performances produced in relation to the tensions and movements of/about the border. Comprised of thirteen essays and a transcribed conversation involving the majority of this collection's contributors, this book places a spotlight on both the material and imagined lines of division that exist within North America, including the Caribbean, and divide both geographical regions and the people who inhabit them. In focusing upon the northern portion of the western hemisphere, Performance in the Borderlands does not center on any one national border, but instead brings into the focus the many boundaries that exist within the quadrant. It critically explores not only the border that exists between the United States and Mexico but also the intranational divisions (state and regional differences) within the United States, the creation of boundaries by multinational capitalist investment and militaristic presence in the Caribbean, and the natural and political obstacles that inhibit travel between Mexico and Guatemala, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Ramon Rivera-Servera is Assistant Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA. He is currently completing his book manuscript, Performing Latinidad: Queer Sexualities and Global Imaginaries. His essays on Latina/o Performance have appeared in Modern Drama, Text and Performance Quarterly, Ollantay Theatre Magazine, and Trans: The Journal of the Spanish Society of Ethnomusicology.
Harvey Young is Associate Professor of Theatre and Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama program at Northwestern University, Illinois, USA. He is the author of Embodying Black Experience: Stillness, Critical Memory, and the Black Body.