本研究はアメリカを脱中心化し、文化は移動他者との交渉に晒されているとみなす惑星思考(planetary thought)の視点から、アメリカ演劇を相対的に捉え直すことを目的とする。
本年度は、まず、研究の理論的基盤となる帝国主義、旅行記研究、カルチュラル・スタディーズといった批評理論を整理した。さらには、19世紀後半から 20世紀初頭にかけて、アメリカ人役者や芸人、支配人によって執筆された3冊の太平洋巡業記 (Bandmann, Daniel E. An Actor’s Tour, or Seventy Thousand Miles with Shakespeare (1886); Bleeker, Sylvester. Gen. Tom Thumb's Three Years' Tour Around the World (1872); Massett, Stephen C. "Drifting About" (1863) )を分析した。19世紀においてアメリカ演劇が太平洋地域へと海外巡業ツアーを拡大したことは、同時代の第25代大統領ウィリアム・マッキンリーが推進した地理的拡大に倣った、アメリカ演劇という「文化の恩恵」を巡業先の後進地域に与える行為であった。一方で、アメリカ人役者は巡業先においてはローカルな他者との交渉を余儀なくされ、旅程も役者自身の地位も不確実で曖昧だった。ここに、アメリカによる帝国主義的膨張そのもの不安定さの反映を見出すことができる。
During the 2000s, the new idea of "Planetarity" based on the ideological decentralization of America was formed to reinterpret American society, culture, and literature by removing the divisions of “nations”, “borders” or “ethnic groups.” One of its distinctive features is the view that, after seeing America as an "island" instead of as “the continent,” the American culture is exposed to negotiations with other people and culture. My research applies this new idea to review the history of early American theater culture.
This year, I first overviewed such critical theories which form the foundations of my study as cultural imperialism, colonialism, travel writing theory and cultural studies. Furthermore, I analyzed three travel logs written by American actors and entertainers who toured around the Pacific region in the 19th century: Bandmann, Daniel E. An Actor’s Tour, or Seventy Thousand Miles with Shakespeare (1886); Bleeker, Sylvester. Gen. Tom Thumb's Three Years' Tour Around the World (1872); Massett, Stephen C. "Drifting About" (1863) . The expansion of American theater culture around the Pacific world was, as it were, an act of giving the 'cultural benefits' to the underdeveloped countries and regions to which they toured, following President William McKinley’s geographical expansionism. On the other hand, however, actors and entertainers were forced to negotiate with local people in their destinations. Their tours were often very uncertain and the status of actors themselves were ambiguous. Here, we can see the instability of America's imperialist expansion.
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