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Performance and Migration website is designed to support any researcher, student or specialist in completing literature reviews, essays, publications or more in the field of Theatre and Migration by providing an easily accessible archive of research which has been compiled and sorted into several comprehensive collections

Migration and Nationalism

This section shows the inevitable connection between migration and nationalism. In the works presented here, the authors talk about the notion of individual versus the “nation” or “state”. Also problems of securitization of migrants are viewed here.

  • Akadon, Barnabas Gabriel. “Migration from Africa as a Response to Changing Identities and Nationalism: A Biblical and Contemporary Perspective.” Religions (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 17, no. 3, March 2026, p. 373. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17030373

This paper examines migration from Africa as a means of adaptation to the resurgence of nationalism and changing identities, while correlating biblical traditions with modern-day realities. The paper uses sociological and theological methods to show how African migration in relation to nationalism parallels biblical paradigms of exile and dispersion. It is useful for interdisciplinary debates on migration because it shows how biblical exilic ideas can help frame responses to Africa’s ongoing issues of nationalism, identity, and forced migration.

  • Anderlini, Jacopo, and Vincenza Pellegrino. “De-Presentify the Border: Social Imaginaries and Mobility Justice.” Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies, vol. 172, no. 103641, September 2025. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103641

This paper explores the ways migrants in transit across various Mediterranean border areas create and maintain solidarity. Through cultural sociology, the study examines how individuals organize mobility and face the challenge of “necropolitical inhospitality.” It also engages with self-organization techniques and the intricacies of solidarity that allow migrant movements. The paper critically addresses the hypocrisy between the idea of migration and its realities: the promise of development for all, the contradictions of modernity, and Europe’s reluctance to grant rights as displayed at the border.

The narratives of eleven “movers and makers” map their geographies and journeys between Punjab, Nairobi, Uganda, and London. Their artforms—of which they are all able to engage in at an exceptionally high level of skill with professional and economic success—are diverse, including theatre. Bhachu’s examination of the makers and their work represents variations on the “successful immigrant” narrative. The ability of migrants to navigate “dissonant terrains” reflects not only self-reliance. It is an important counterargument to hate-filled rhetoric caused by rising xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and far-right sentiment in destination countries: migrants contribute economically and socially through their skills, while their creative and collaborative approaches generate exemplary resilience in “liquid worlds of uncertainty, fragility and disequilibrium.” (from the review – https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/doi/full/10.1080/17496772.2022.2048499)

This article addresses a performance project titled Uncomfortable Conversations, which consists of African diaspora migrants. Performers were migrants from Sudan and Somalia, who are particularly stigmatized in current immigration debates. The play participates in recent attempts by FORWARD, a London NGO, to approach key social issues through the arts. Active in the UK and Africa, FORWARD focuses on gender violence against women, including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and child marriage. Participants had been previously mobilized about these issues in meetings. (from the article)

This book clears a space for such discourse by examining the ways in which ethnic and racialized minorities, citizens, and migrants trouble the very notion of cohesive European identities through activism and creative practices. European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe offers an important contribution to the study of ethnic minorities in Europe and their strategies of resistance, particularly through their engagement with and use of the public sphere. El-Tayeb’s “fusionist” approach also adds a valuable dimension to other methodological lenses, such as intersectionality and African diaspora studies. (from the review – https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/article/515071 )

  • Fisek, E. (2017). Aesthetic Citizenship: Immigration and Theater in Twenty-First-Century Paris. (1 ed.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press. Available at: muse.jhu.edu/book/55264 

The author explores the complex relationship between theatre practice, immigration politics, and identity by interrogating both representation— theatre as bearing witness to marginalized voices and narratives—and the impact of embodied social practice: theatre as a site of the construction of personal and legal identity. One of the strengths of this volume is its bringing together of critical frameworks with ethnographic fieldwork undertaken from 2009 to 2012, featuring Paris-based organizations engaged with immigration rights and citizenship through theatre. The careful use of interviews alongside detailed accounts of performances in context adds pragmatism and self-reflexivity to the analysis. (from the review – https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/article/716729 )

In this essay, the author retraces some of the migration movements and representations of Europe in order to present the development of these subjects in the work of the Germanophone novelist and playwright Margareth “Maxi” Obexer. Despite the differences in the forms used, the author persists in questioning three key concepts or topics: identity, migration, and the staging of Europe. (from the article)

Focusing on language, identity, migration, and exile, the article examines three Greek theatre productions that facilitate encounters with “unfamiliar strangers.” All were created by migrant artists or include migrants as performers: Laertis Vasiliou’s One in Ten (2007), Thanasis Papathanasiou and Michalis Reppas’s Homelands (2012), and Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris’s Clean City (2016). Although recent Greek theatre lacks a multilingual body of texts, an interest has emerged in staging migrant narratives through documentary and testimonial theatre. These theatrical encounters tap into national narratives of hellenikotita and propose more heterogeneous and playful ways of imagining Greek identity. (from the article)

Through the analysis of the Afro-Romagnole theater group Teatro delle Albe, the author unpacks the interplay of production and reception of blackness in Italy through theater, media, politics, and civil society. The book intervenes in the debate between political-economy approaches to globalization and culturalist approaches to racial issues by foregrounding how history, institutions, and popular culture in Italy imagine, represent, and perform immigrants of a different ethnic background. The book discusses blackness in Italy against the backdrop of the near absence of a national vocabulary on immigration. It engages with stereotype, prejudice, nation, performance, and race, while understanding ethnicity and stereotype as overflowing into issues of emotional investment in immigrants’ life projects. (abstracts from the book)

The author’s stated goal is to enhance and intensify the discourse on theater and nationalism in different countries, historical periods, and cultures. The book offers broad views of the celebration of culture and history in the US, Mexico, Canada, and various European and Asian countries. It focuses not only on theatre’s power to convey national nostalgia for a country’s greatest moments, but also on the relationship between the construction or subversion of cultural identity and political force inside and outside the culture. (from the review – https://login.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/staging-nationalism-essays-on-theatre-national/docview/225759368/se-2?accountid=14701 )

The article examines the portrayal of Mapuche migrant women in Argentine and Chilean theater and film productions from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The analysis focuses on several Mapuche-created works that dramatize the migration experiences and challenges faced by these women in urban centers, serving as testimonies and forms of resistance against hostility and discrimination. Key findings include the presentation of Mapuche women’s perspectives across generations and their efforts to retain cultural identity and community despite pressures of assimilation. (provided by JSTOR AI)

In this book, the author gives her reader a clear window into the complexity of the relationships between theatre and nation. She conveys a complicated hopefulness for the possibilities of theatre creating productive, inclusive dialogue in an increasingly globalized world. The author defines nation, national identity, and nationalism, drawing on a variety of performative moments to demonstrate the global impact on the local and vice versa. Holdsworth frames convivial cosmopolitan theatre as a space welcoming dissenting and diverging opinions and identities. She proposes that theatre can provide a collaborative space in which alterity is both privileged and productive. (from the review – https://www.proquest.com/docview/1035285883?accountid=14701&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals )

This book offers essays that explore how playwrights, directors, theatre-makers, and performance artists have re-staged or re-worked a classic national play, performance, theatrical form, or theatre space in order to engage with conceptions of nation, nationalism, and national identity in the contemporary moment. For instance, one chapter studies Woza Albert!, which recreates scenes of racial oppression under apartheid with vitality, humor, and insight. Another chapter discusses artistic directors such as Shermin Langhoff at the Berlin Ballhaus and Karin Beier at the Cologne municipal theatre, who attempt to bring Germany’s post-migrational reality into the nation’s theatre institutions. (from the book)

The arts are a powerful means of fighting discrimination, marginalisation, neglect, and even poverty. This book presents 23 successful arts-based efforts to respond to social problems experienced by disadvantaged communities. The social problems addressed include migrants facing a strange and not always welcoming cultural context, Roma youth fighting negative stereotypes, and many more. This book will be of interest to scholars working in visual arts, art education, design education, drama and theatre education, and museum pedagogy. (provided by the publisher – at the link above)

This thesis examines cultural similarities and crossings between Ireland, the Caribbean, and Harlem. It looks into the Irish Literary Renaissance and the Harlem Renaissance as a way to explore transatlantic connections and how both movements used artistic expression to reshape cultural and national identity. Through analysis of key texts and art pieces, the thesis highlights the power of literature, theatre, and art in historical narratives.

Although current theories of diaspora argue for a break between older irrevocable migration from one nation to another and new transnational movement between host country and birthplace, research on nineteenth- and twentieth-century North America demonstrates that earlier migration also had a transnational dimension. The cultural consequences of this two-way traffic include syncretic performance forms, institutions, and audiences. Today, syncretic theatre of diaspora is complicated by theatre of diasporic residence, in which immigrants dramatize inherited conflicts in the host country, and by theatre of non-residence, with touring companies bringing theatre from the home country to non-resident communities and local audiences. (description from the article)

This anthology focuses on the relationship of national identity formation to theatre, examining “the role of theatre in promoting a sense of national character.” The book is divided into three sections: ways theatre has shaped discourses of national identity; questions concerning the impact of national ideologies on theatrical practice; and examples of how theatre can critique traditional nationhood while constructing alternative national identities. While not a perfect text, it offers a glimpse into the possibilities of looking at theatre through the gaze of the nation. (from the review – https://link-gale-com.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/apps/doc/A99600049/AONE?u=otta77973&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=69344b17 )

In this article, the authors reflect on their collaborative practice-as-research piece Project Finding Home, which arose from experiences of working and living in the UK as “non-British” citizens. Engaging with refugee and migrant artists over three years, the authors produced a series of films. The article focuses on two of these films: one made with the participatory theatre company of Sanctuary, PSYCHEdelight, and one made with conceptual artist Khaled Barakeh. The authors discuss how their respective uses of comedy and visual representation resist singular views of migrant narratives and examine how artistic practice, documentation, and dissemination can question dominant aesthetic norms and migration policies in the UK and Europe. (provided by the authors – at the link above)

This book looks at the connection between contemporary theatre practices and cosmopolitanism, a philosophical condition of social behaviour based on responsibility, respect, and curiosity toward the other. Advocating for cosmopolitanism has become necessary in a world defined by global wars, mass migration, and the rise of nationalism. Using empathy, affect, and personal stories of displacement through embodied encounter between actor and audience, performance arts can serve as a training ground for this social behavior. At the centre of this encounter is a new cosmopolitan: a person of divided origins and cultural heritage, someone who speaks many languages and claims different countries as places of belonging. (provided by OMNI)

This interdisciplinary collection of essays delves beneath media headlines about the “migration crisis,” Brexit, Trump, and similar events linked to the intensification of stereotypes about migrants since 2015. Topics include representations of migration and stereotypes in citizenship ceremonies, culinary traditions, law and literature, and public history and performance. Bringing together academics, artists, and theatre practitioners, the collection offers methodologies, keywords, and collaborative research tools for Theatre and Performance Studies, Cultural and Migration Studies, Applied Theatre, and History.

  • Mendoza, R. (2010). Some No-Place Like Home: Thirdspace Production in Cherríe Moraga’s “Watsonville.” Confluencia, 26(1), 132–140.  Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27923482 

The text explores Cherríe Moraga’s play Watsonville: Some Place Not Here and its critique of capitalist spatial practice. The play subverts dominant spatial regulations and creates a communal, resistant thirdspace in response to the alienating spatial regime imposed by capitalism. It addresses the spatial struggles of Chicanas/os and Latinas/os, particularly in response to border control and migrant worker exploitation. The play also transforms the audience space and allows workers to become “actors” and perform “themselves.” (provided by JSTOR AI)

In “Why Make Theatre in the South Pacific?”, David O’Donnell recalls a performance of Foreskin’s Lament that took New Zealand’s obsession with rugby both literally and symbolically, eliminating the barrier between stage and house and displaying for a stunned audience a culture defined by male aggression, violent sport, and political division. O’Donnell asks whether theatre can help define a nation and describes theatre as offering the risks of experimentation, the joy of the avant-garde, and the challenge of new perspectives. (provided by the publisher – at the link above)

  • Ofem, Nnana O., et al. “Forced Migration and Security Challenges: A Study of the Effects of Ambazonia Crises on Communities in Cross River State, Nigeria.” African Renaissance, vol. 23, no. 1, 2026, pp. 265–287. Available at: https://doi.org/10.31920/2516-5305/2026/23n1a12

This article discusses the effects of forced migration and its impacts, looking into causes and consequences for economic growth. It examines the Ambazonia crisis and its effects on communities in Cross River State, Nigeria. Through data collection, questionnaires, ANOVA testing, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the study addresses questions concerning migration, security challenges, and the benefits or pressures experienced by host communities.

  • Schuler Irving, Chauntee’. “Our Fairytales: The Cost of Migration, National Myth, and Creative Labor in Unser Deutschlandmärchen.” Humanities, vol. 15, no. 2, 2026, p. 31. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/h15020031

This article examines the impact of migrants on the cultural identity of their host country. In this performance analysis, connections are made through primary production texts, migration and diaspora literature, and Turkish-German commentary on the impact of Turkish migrants in society. The paper correlates the fairy tale with the migrant’s story, concluding that the story of the migrant is like a fairy tale: a story of perseverance despite the absence of a guaranteed happy ending.

In this article, the authors discuss the motivation to edit a special section on theatre and statelessness. According to them, it evolves from the urgency of the outrageous circumstances facing many refugees, even after some of them are “safe” in Europe. Europe is drifting further into nationalistic politics, where not only refugees but also minorities and racialized groups are targeted by right-wing parties. Refugee laws and politics in Europe are becoming worse than ever, creating an impossible system for people fleeing humanitarian crises to apply for asylum legally.

This article analyzes the contradictions at the heart of the careers of artists from the peripheries, between the injunction to internationalize in order to succeed and the forms of disaffiliation linked to migration. It explores the migration of Spanish artists to cities such as Paris, London, and Berlin, which accelerated after Spain joined the European Union, but did not translate into greater international visibility for these artists. By leaving their original art scene, these artists may find themselves in a situation of “double absence.”

In response to conventionally passive and limiting portrayals of Arab and Muslim women, playwrights such as Heather Raffo, Rohina Malik, Laila Farah, and Bina Sharif created theatrical forms of resistance and revision. Through an analysis of contemporary Arab and Muslim American female playwrights and solo performers, this dissertation examines how one-woman shows challenge stereotypical racial discourses perpetuated about Arabs and Muslims after September 11. The playwrights use solo performance to negotiate tensions surrounding race, culture, and gender while redefining the representation of Arab and Muslim American women on stage. (abstract from the dissertation)

In an effort to better portray the migratory situation in the Iberian Peninsula, Spanish playwrights have staged characters who are either torn by stereotypes confronting the unknown Other or who turn their backs to the cruel reality of drowned bodies. Ignacio del Moral in La Mirada del hombre oscuro (1991) and José Moreno Arenas in La playa (2004) give Spanish characters sharp and provocative language while questioning their assumptions regarding the Other. In both plays, migrant characters remain silent, immobile, and unable to communicate with Spaniards. The paper discusses how silence and immobility allow migrant characters to become essential points of reference and eventually overpower the Spanish protagonists. (from the abstract)

  • Uwah, Chijioke, et al. “Theatre for Social Change: Resolving Xenophobic Conflicts through Theatre Intervention in South Africa.” Cogent Social Sciences, vol. 11, no. 1, December 2025. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2025.2464870

This study examines how theatre addresses xenophobia in South Africa. Through Morris’s isolation hypothesis and the multicultural hypothesis, Chijioke Uwah defines and develops an understanding of xenophobia. The study examines political rhetoric and local theatre in South Africa to understand how theatre can address and help resolve this recurring issue.

  • Valverde, Cristina Pérez, and Fernando Perez-Martin. “‘There Is No “Us and Them”’: Engaging with Migration and Border Crossing Narratives through Shadow Puppetry in Ghosts of the River.” Critical Arts, vol. 34, no. 4, July 2020, pp. 47–60. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2020.1721548

This work analyzes how migration journeys and border crossing are presented in the shadow play Ghosts of the River. It examines the theatrical devices used to raise audience awareness of migration issues, engages with the playwright’s reasoning for creating the play, and uses theories of othering and Derrida’s hauntology to examine how these ideas are expressed through performance.

  • Villas-Bôas, Beatriz, and Joana P Cruz. “Imagistic Experiments with the Body: A Theater of the Oppressed Workshop with Migrant Communities.” Communication Studies, February 2026, pp. 1–22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2026.2619472

This study investigates how theater can help express migrant experiences and stories. Using theatre as a tool of Arts-Based Research, the manuscript reports on a four-day workshop based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. The article examines documented abstractions from conversation circles and exercises after each session, showing how Arts-Based Research helped reveal aspects of migratory experience and triggered a collective experience through theatrical means.

This collection of eleven essays treats immigration, urban life, and nationalism on stage as important sites for the negotiation of ideas circulating during the Progressive Era. By thinking about the centrality of performance in social, cultural, and national debates during the period, the book offers valuable perspectives for those interested in the Provincetown Players, turn-of-the-century drama, or Progressive Era culture studies. (from the review – https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/eugeoneirevi.41.1.0100 )

This collection addresses the historic and contemporary roles of National Theatres in Europe and the changing artistic, social, political, and economic circumstances that have created a crisis for their position as cultural flagships. International theatre scholars examine National Theatres throughout Europe, analyzing their structures and roles in society and illuminating the problems they face. Contributors provide perspectives on Baltic, Balkan, and Eastern European countries after recent political and cultural transitions, while also reflecting on the National Theatre in London and the newly created National Theatre of Scotland. (from the book jacket)

Performing Statelessness in Europe examines the sociocultural and aesthetic role of theatre practice in exploring the difficult nexus of migration and the nation-state. Across nine chapters, the author discusses examples including adaptations of Greek theatre and their treatment of asylum seeking, documentary dramas based on refugee stories and featuring the protagonists on stage, and discussions of both established and emerging theatre voices and companies. (from the review – https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/article/725903 )

  • Ybarra, P.A. (2017). Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism. (1 ed.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/55917 

Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism traces how Latinx theater in the United States has engaged with the policies, procedures, and outcomes of neoliberal economics in the Americas from the 1970s to the present. Ybarra analyzes the work of playwrights María Irene Fornés, Cherríe Moraga, Michael John Garcés, Caridad Svich, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Victor Cazares, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Tanya Saracho, and Octavio Solis. In addressing histories of oppression in their home countries, these playwrights have reimagined affective political and economic ties in the Americas and rethought Latin politics in the United States. (provided by the publisher – at the link above)