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Embodying the Social: Desire and Devo(r)ation at the Teatro Oficina

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Abstract

The Teat(r)o Oficina Uzyna Uzona organizes bodily performance in an affect-rich, interactive, and politically charged style described as “anthropophagic”. Drawing on the anthropophagy trope, I argue that thinking about organizing anthropophagically provides new ways of approaching bodies and affect, thinking about subjectivity relationally, and situating self and other in an intimate yet ambivalent encounter. Using the Teat(r)o Oficina Uzyna Uzona as a case, I illustrate the broad features of anthropophagic organizing, pointing to the organizational, social, and political implications of anthropophagic relationality. Engaging with Oficina’s unique style and forms of embodiment helps us to imagine how bodies and affect can be used creatively to establish a performative politics, marked by affective intensity and participative presence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/11/the-10-best-theatres-architecture-epidaurus-radio-city-music-hall

  2. 2.

    https://blogdozecelso.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/entrevista-ao-sesc-sobre-a-turne-da-macumba-antropofaga-pelo-interior/

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

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Islam, G. (2019). Embodying the Social: Desire and Devo(r)ation at the Teatro Oficina. In: Fotaki, M., Pullen, A. (eds) Diversity, Affect and Embodiment in Organizing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98917-4_11

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