Reference: RS/13/14

Applications are invited for a full-time PhD (via MPhil) studentship in the School of Language, Literature and International Studies. The studentship is tenable for up to 3 years [subject to satisfactory progress] and will cover the cost of tuition fees at UK/EU rates plus a maintenance grant of £13,726 (2013/14 rate). International applicants may apply but will be expected to pay the difference between the UK/EU and International Fee Rate. The successful applicant will start on 1 January 2014.

Exploration of Race and Nation in Nineteenth Century American Theatre and Performance Cultures: Playwriting, Performance and (international) Reception

The PhD is designed to expand on work undertaken by Dr Saxon in her 2011 publication, American Theatre: History, Context, Form, which sought to establish a critical paradigm for theatre research that sought to establish a dynamic history of theatre that include performance histories in America that are not predicated on colonial record and that the rich and compelling diversity of theatre in American is, and always was, more than a replication of imported European forms. Errol G. Hill and James V. Hatch have argued that ‘unique conditions’ brought about the cultural development of a specific African American theatre: the slave trade. African performance types that emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, were many and varied and this diversity of practice needs analysing and assessing, in conjunction with a consideration of the relationship between ‘ritual’ and ‘theatre’. The research project, therefore, will also explore the constructions of race and nation in theatrical productions such as Dion Boucicault’s and the two versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Applications are invited from candidates with an MA and/or an upper second class honours degree upper second class honours degree in relevant disciplines such as American Studies, Literary Studies, or Drama and Theatre Studies, and an interest in the broad area of theatre history. They should be able to demonstrate experience of working with historical sources and the ability to work to targets and timescales efficiently.

For an informal discussion please contact Dr Theresa Saxon (Email tsaxon@uclan.ac.uk or Telephone 01772 893031).

Requests for an application pack (quoting the reference RS/13/14) should be directed to the Graduate Research School Office, by clicking the ‘Apply’ button below. Alternatively, please Tel: 01772 895082.

Closing Date: 31 October 2013