Beyond the Linear Narrative: Fractured Narratives in Writing and Performance in the Postcolonial Era

Lead Research Organisation: Goldsmiths University of London
Department Name: Pinter ctr for Performance and C Writing

Abstract

Taking Pinter's work as a starting point for, or symbol of, the fracturing of narrative across many art-forms in twentieth and twenty-first century work, this research project will ask a series of questions about the links between inter-cultural and political change and the emergence, or re-emergence, of non-linear and fractured narrative. Focussing on literature and performance, particularly in postcolonial and diasporic contexts, it will ask why non-linear narrative has been such a feature of this period's artistic production. If these fractured and experimental forms are a response to the breakdown of the west's grand narratives of progress, what forms of resistance or revision do they provide? In what ways can they be seen to emerge from the increasing interaction of different cultures in the colonial, post-colonial and post-Cold War world? How do such fractured narratives work in postcolonial and diasporic writing and performance? How can these fractured forms explore our culturally diverse society's competing and conflicting narratives?

The project will also ask in what ways changing understandings of the self have contributed to the disruption of linear narrative, and in particular, how fractured narratives enable the move away from the Cartesian mind/body duality to an understanding of the embodied self, making the writing of the body such an important element in contemporary performance, fiction and life-writing. In addition, if non-linear narratives emerge from the destabilising of traditional hierarchies of power, what are the implications for issues of gender and sexuality in writing and performance? The project will not assume the distinct identity of traditional 'literary' genres, but will ask these questions of all forms of literature and performance as a continuum of work.

Up till now, most investigations of non-linear narrative have been limited to its digital development, seeing it in terms of technological change. While being alert to this research and its implications, the emphasis of this project is different, centring as it does on the relation between fractured narratives and cultural change in the late colonial and post-colonial period, and on intercultural and diasporic exchange in contemporary art practices. Our project is in no way formalistic: rather it will ask what profound social, political and conceptual changes are being mapped in these artistic practices, addressing questions fundamental to an understanding of the role the arts play in negotiating social change in today's culturally diverse society. The project will have in-depth studies of three areas: African/African diasporic performance, Caribbean/Caribbean diasporic life writing, and gender and sexuality in contemporary British diasporic writing and performance.

The research methods employed will be varied, combining traditional academic means, such as conferences and seminars, with creative practice, plays, performances, readings, musical events, film, video and digital arts. Two doctoral students will be attached to the project, one working on African performance, the other in Caribbean life writing; there will be two artists-in-residence, each for three months. Goldsmiths' strengths in creative writing and innovative performance, in critical creative practice, community arts, urban studies and postcolonial theory, as well as its strong tradition of interdisciplinary research, make it an ideal place for this project. Dissemination will take a variety of forms, through conferences, seminars and creative events, as well as book and journal publication, and the videoing and archiving of events and performances. The outcomes of our research will be of interest both to scholars and to creative artists. It will contribute to the understanding of postcolonial and diasporic literature and performance, their evolution and development, and to the assessment of the nature and impact of contemporary creative practices.
 
Title 'Kitch' 
Description Anthony Joseph presented BBC Radio 4 programme based on the life of calypsonean, Lord Kitchener, featuring a brief biography, music, and interviews, based on research from his new novel, 'Kitch'. 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact Heard by general listeners well beyond an academic context. 
 
Title 'Kitch' reading 
Description An extract from the fictionalised biography was read at the Third International Conference on Steelpan, University of East London 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Dissemination of research and creative writing within scholarly community in UK 
 
Title 'Shingle Sheet' 
Description Collection of poems by Blake Morrison 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Publication by Chatto and Windus ensures widespread dissemination to readers/students of poetry. 
 
Title 'This Poem...' 
Description Poetry pamphlet by Blake Morrison, published, Smith/Doorstop, 2014 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Circulation to lovers of poetry 
 
Title 'We Are Three Sisters' 
Description Play by Blake Morrison, toured by Northern Broadsides (2011) and published by Nick Hern Books 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Widely toured in the UK, so seen by a fairly broad spectrum of theatregoing public, especially in the North. publication will allow other professionals, students and amateurs to produce the play. 
 
Title Aminatta Forna Reading from her Work 
Description Award-winning author, and member of the project's advisory board Aminatta Forna read from her new book 'The Memory of Love' (Bloomsbury 2010). This event was followed by discussion of Aminatta's work and the themes of fracture and identity when writing about place, (personal) politics and memory. This was one of our many events to draw a crowd from beyond the academic research community, our audiences included students, FE students and members of the public. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Event was very popular with an audience beyond the scholarly community. 
 
Title Beyond the Linear Narrative Public launch event 
Description Held on 25th March 2009, this was a An introduction to the project for our initial audience of colleagues and creative community. This was a chance to set out the scope of the project as well as explore the three research strand through readings by investigators and PhD students. 'The Examination' by Harold Pinter was read by Professor Robert Gordon, Blake Morrison read from his memoir 'Things my Mother Never Told Me', Maura Dooley read her own poetry. PhD student Ekua Ekumah read from the work of Ghanian Poet. As an exercise to publicise the project, the event was a success, and went some way to establishing a scholarly community to engage with it. Some attendees of this launch subsequently attended events throughout the following three years, and many presented papers at one or more of our conferences. Most people attended at least one further event. Audience members ranged from academics at Goldsmiths to practitioners and writers and members of the public interested in hearing the readings. Many came from the local area of South East London. This event was video archived, and video was released via Youtube and the Beyond the Linear Narrative Blog. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact The event publicised the project, drawing an audience of scholars, artists and a cross-section of the local diasporic community to generate interest in future activities and their potential relevance for the community. 
 
Title Celebrating Freedom - Festivals of Liberation - The Bacchae in Nigeria and Brazil 
Description In her paper Celebrating Freedom - Festivals of Liberation - The Bacchae in Nigeria and Brazil, Professor Erika Fischer-Lichte discussed Wole Soyinka's rewriting of Euripides' tragedy, its performance in London (1973), Kingston/Jamaica (1975) and Lagos (2008) as well as the production of the tragedy by the Brazilian Teat(r)o Oficina, directed by Ze Celso. This event was attended by many undergraduate and postgraduate drama and performance students from across the university of London. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Largely academic audience of students and scholars. 
 
Title Coloquium: Fractured, Transformed, Travelling Narratives in Writing, Performance and the Arts 
Description Presented by the BCLA and the AILC/ICLA in partnership with The Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing, Department of Drama, Department of English & Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, this two-day colloquium was themed around the interests of the Beyond the Linear Narratives project. With over thirty speakers, this additional event added to the richness of the project's activities and has lead to additional out-put opportunities. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Presence of international comparative literature scholars gave a new dimension to our project that provided new methodologies for local artists and members of the diasporic community. 
 
Title Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, Sexuality and Fractured Form in Diasporic Writing and Performance 2 
Description The second event in the seminar strand led by Helen Carr. Professor Vic Seidler, Professor of Social Theory/Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London - 'Fractured narratives: disrupting masculinity' Dr. Louise Tondeur, novelist and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Roehampton University - 'Queering the narrative line: queer reading as a disruptive methodology.' Discussion during this event again touched on themes of identities fractured through trauma. Dr Tondeur's previous work on 'Hair' was also discussed at length by the audience. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact Impact mainly on scholarly community. 
 
Title Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, Sexuality and Fractured Form in Diasporic Writing and Performance 3 
Description Part of the strand led by professor Helen Carr 'Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, sexuality and fractured form in diasporic writing and performance.' Poet and novelist Bernardine Evaristo joined poet Patience Agbabi, to read from and talk about their work. This event was video archived 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact Impact on students of poetry and creative writing 
 
Title Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, Sexuality and Fractured Form in Diasporic Writing and Performance 5 
Description Padraig Kirwin - Goldsmiths, University of London "'Choctalk' Nation': Narrative Sovereignty in LeAnne Howe's Shell Shaker'". Padraig Kirwan's paper considered the ways in which the Native American LeAnne Howe's 'Shell Shaker' appears to engage with various forms of sovereignty (tribal, political, and/or artistic), and will question the extent to which the novel can be said to provide a commentary on moments of contact between the citizens of modern nation states. Denise deCaires Narain - University of Sussex 'Half-and-half': fractured narratives and the intimacies, limits and possibilities of maid/madam relationships. This paper explored the way that relationships between domestic workers and their female employers are represented in texts by a selection of Southern African and Caribbean women writers who seek, in different ways, to engage with differences across class and race boundaries. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Paper by Denise deCaires Narain developed as an essay for publication in a volume edited by Prof Helen Carr and Professor Robert Gordon, forthcoming 2017. 
 
Title Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, Sexuality and Fractured form in Diasporic Writing and Performance 
Description The second event in the seminar strand led by Helen Carr. Professor Vic Seidler, Professor of Social Theory/Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London - 'Fractured narratives: disrupting masculinity' Dr. Louise Tondeur, novelist and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Roehampton University - 'Queering the narrative line: queer reading as a disruptive methodology.' Discussion during this event again touched on themes of identities fractured through trauma. Dr Tondeur's previous work on 'Hair' was also discussed at length by the audience. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Dissemination among scholars and creative writing students. 
 
Title Disrupting the Narrative: Gender, Sexuality and Fractured form in Diasporic Writing and Performance 4 
Description Dr Alison Donnell and Dr Rachel Farebrother presented papers for the strand of the project led by Professor Helen Carr. Dr Alison Donnell's paper was entitled: 'All that was melted is solid again: writing and the demands of the metropolis in the work of Una Marson' Dr Rachel Farebrother's paper was entitled: 'The Collage Aesthetic in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston' 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact Impact on scholarly community. 
 
Title Exotics, Visitors, Immigrants and Citizens: Africa on the British Stage 
Description The third seminar in the series led by Professor Osita Okagbue, this event featured three papers by performers, writers and practitioners followed by discussion. 'The 15th Tale: How the centre holds' by Performance poet and artist - Inua Ellams Alex OMA-PIUS 'African Theatre & Culture in British Schools' - Alex is the artistic director of Iroko Theatre 'Being an African Actor on the British Stage' - Reginald Ofodile 'It's as if I'm in Nigeria: Concerns of Writing Nigeria in the UK' - Dr Dipo Agboluaje 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact This series of self-reflections by artists on their work has stimulated debate and discussion of the role of poetry and theatre in the diasporic communities of London. 
 
Title Fractured Narratives: Pinter, Postmodernism and the Postcolonial World 
Description This conference took Harold Pinter's work in different genres as the starting point for an investigation of experimental and innovative approaches to narrative that characterise much postcolonial and diasporic performance and literature. The conference aimed to stimulate new ways of conceptualising the field of postcolonial and diasporic performance/writing, asking a series of questions about the links between inter-cultural transformations and political change and the emergence, or perhaps, re-emergence, of non-linear and fractured narrative. Papers are invited for the following panels: • Narrativity in postmodern drama • Diasporic narratives • Terror and territory in postcolonial narratives • Writing across generic borders • Intercultural performance and writing • Postcolonial aesthetics in contemporary fiction • Postcolonial performance and the fracturing of narrative Contributors included Enoch Brater (keynote speaker), Michael Billington, Ian Rickson, Bernadine Evaristo, Bonnie Greer, Gabriel Gbadamosi, Bart Moore-Gilbert. Our Guest of honour was Lady Antonia Fraser. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact A number of papers from the conference will be published as essays in edited collections of two books due for publication. 
 
Title Lecture on 'Kitch' 
Description Lecture on and readings from Anthony Joseph's fictionalised biography, University of Berkeley, California 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact Dissemination of creative writing and research to the American academic community 
 
Title Living in a Technological Pocket 
Description Professor Janis Jefferies gave her paper A Visit from the Goon Squad: Living in a Technological Pocket and sound poet and artist Holly Pester presented some of her work on sound and the disruption of an archived voice. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Impact on scholars and sound poetry practitioners. 
 
Title Of the Deepest Shadows and Prisons of Fire 
Description We were very lucky to further stretch the international reach of this project when we hosted Nigerian Scholar and Poet Chimalum Nwankwo, who read from his latest collection of poems Of the Deepest Shadows and Prisons of Fire. This reading attracted adiverse audience of writers and performers as well as members of the general public, across generations, of Nigerian British descent. This was part of the seminar strand organised by Professor Osita Okagbue. This event is video archived. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Some impact on diasporic writers based in South east London. 
 
Title Pandora's Box 
Description Play published by Oberon Books 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2012 
Impact The play continues to be performed in various venues, most recently at the Arcola Theatre, November 2014 
 
Title Performed Reading of CELEBRATE! 
Description Artist in Residence Ade Solanke, presented a rehearsed reading by six actors of her new play CELEBRATE! The work formed the major part of her 12 month residency with the project, along with her play Pandora's Box which went on to be presented at the final conference in November 2011. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact None so far. 
 
Title Pinter's Party Time 
Description A multi-ethnic production of Pinter's 35-minute drama, by students of Lewisham College. Inspired by the production, "Pinter: In Other Rooms", this was the first of a series of collaborations initiated by the Pinter Centre and Lewisham College as an extension of the "Beyond the Linear Narrative" project. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2013 
Impact This collaboration was itself an impact of the project, but in its turn it is helping members of the multi-cultural local community of Lewisham into contact with the work of Pinter and other progressive playwrights, and developing ongoing relationships between the project archive and local college students. 
 
Title Pinter: In Other Rooms 
Description Professor Robert Gordon devised a theatre piece of seven short plays by Harold Pinter, played as an uninterrupted event, the performance locating audiences in the characters' world, transforming party venues into secret places of interrogation and torture or intimate spaces that revealed conversations by turns funny, sinister, absurd and horrifying. It juxtaposed little-known masterpieces in new ways. Starting with Party Time the audience arrives at a cocktail party in which they gradually begin to collude with the 'insiders' against those excluded as political 'untouchables'. The excluded Jimmy speaks from the black depths of his cell at the play's end, becoming the speaker in a monodrama from Pinter's The Examination: victim becomes interrogator who in turn becomes the subject of interrogation. In Press Conference a female minister briefs the press in a chilling display of arrogance and doublespeak, giving way to the horror of A New World Order in which a hooded victim is forced to imagine the torture to which he will shortly be subjected by his two cheerful interrogators. These contrast with Night, in which a husband battles with his wife to assert the truth of his view of their first romantic encounter against hers, while Victoria Station involves the comic interrogation of a taxi-driver waiting in his car by his controller in the central office. Mountain Language shockingly exposes the erotic pleasure of authority figures interrogating political prisoners denied the freedom to speak their own language. Directed by Robert Gordon and David Peimer, the performance presented later works seldom seen outside London to audiences across Europe. The production premiered at an international conference on Harold Pinter in Maribor, and was performed during our third conference at Goldsmiths and toured to Prague, Berlin, Budapest, Brno, Bratislava and Thessaloniki between September and December 2011, playing to audiences of scholars, students and the general public. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact First performance of some late plays by Pinter in European countries in which only his early plays are known. Promulgation of his social and political views and re-evaluation of his oeuvre. 
 
Title Postcolonial Life-writing 
Description The second seminar in the series led by Professor Blake Morrison, focusing on postcolonial Life-writing. Bart Moore-Gilbert presented a paper based on his recent book 'Post-Colonial Life-Writing'. Dr Mairi Neeves presented a paper on 'Trauma and Postcolonial Life-writing'. Both presentations were followed by audience discussion. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Chief impact was on scholars and practitioners of Life-Writing. 
 
Title RECONFIGURATIONS: Remaking Narrative, Reinventing Genre in Postcolonial and Diasporic Writing and Performance 
Description This conference was the third and culminating annual conference, and was an international 'festival' of events as well as an academic interrogation of the nature of narrative, performance and genre in today's multiethnic, multicultural world. Its aim was to investigate how postcolonial and diasporic writing and performance use fractured forms to explore our culturally diverse society's competing and conflicting narratives, and to explore, through creative practice as well as academic analysis, the way these art forms make and shape new and multiple identities, both in terms of cultural affiliation, and of gender and sexuality. The programme comprised academic papers, readings and performances, as well as workshops from our two artists in residence. The conference was open not only to scholars, writers, performers, students from Goldsmiths and other universities, but to local participating schools and members of the general public. Including performances by pupils from two local schools with whom our artists in residence worked over a 5 month period on writing fractured poetry. Keynote presentations were from Caryl Phillips in Conversation with Blake Morrison and Bonnie Greer discussing her work on Langston Hughes • Readings by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bernadine Evaristo, Romesh Gunesekera, Ardashir Vakil, Aamer Hussein, Beverley Naidoo, Maura Dooley, Monique Roffey • New Play by Ade Solanke (Playwright in Residence) • Poetry and Fiction Scratch Night hosted by Jack Underwood • Panel on Decolonising Shakespeare with Dorothy Gould, Hugh Quarshie, Osita Okagbue and Robert Gordon • Academic papers by Denise deCaires Narain, Lauri Ramey, Jessica Peart, Janis Jefferies, Vic Seidler and others • Performance papers by James Gibbs, David Peimer, Mairi Neeves and more • Daljit Negra (Poet in Residence) reads and presents poetry workshop with local schoolchildren • Other contributions from Susheila Nasta, Diane Abbot MP, Anthony Joseph and Anna Furse 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Wide-ranging impact on artists and members of the local community, including schoolchildren, including plays later staged in London theatres and other creative writing outputs. 
 
Title Rabindranath Tagore: Going Beyond the Linear Narrative 
Description Professor Ranjan Ghosh presented his paper entitled: Rabindranath Tagore: Going Beyond the Linear Narrative 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact The project drew the well-known Indian scholar to offer a seminar which linked the deconstruction of colonialism in the work of Tagore to the immediate themes of the project in respect of narrative fragmentation. 
 
Title Reading of 'Kitch' 
Description Anthony Joseph read excerpts from his fictionalised biography at BOCAS Literary Festival in Trinidad 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2013 
Impact Dissemination of work in Caribbean countries 
 
Title Readings by Daljit Nagra 
Description Following his appointment as one of two artists in residence at the Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing, award winning poet, Daljit Nagra read from his work. This launched Daljit's 12 month residency as part of the project 'Beyond the Linear Narrative', which will culminate in an event at our final conference in November 2011. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Working with schoolchildren in the local area between 2010 and 2011, Daljit mentored their writing of poetry which was performed in an event at Goldsmiths. This intervention in the lives of young people in the local community was a transformative experience for many of them and has contributed to the esteem and well-being of their families and other members of the community. 
 
Title Reality Hunger 
Description Author David Shields Read from his Latest Work; Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. Reading followed by discussion of the work, and the hotly contested notion of the 'death of the novel'. Attended by many key participants in our project as well as a large turnout from Goldsmiths' creative writing MA - sparking some heating discussion on the fractured future of the novel as a narrative means. This event is video archived 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Some impact on fledgling creative writers at Goldsmiths 
 
Title Rehearsed Reading of Egusi Soup by Janice Okoh 
Description Produced with a professional cast, and followed by discussion of themes and writing itself, this was a chance for the work of now award-winning playwright Janice Okoh to reexamine a play she had 'completed' a year or more before this event. In the months after the reading, Janice has won an award for her writing and Egusi Soup has been picked up for a full production by the Soho Theatre. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact Performance at Soho Theatre in 2012 was well reviewed and made some impact on Black British writers in London 
 
Title Saidi's Song 
Description SCREENING - World Preview Screening of Nollywood film Saidi's Song, followed by discussion with the film's producer. This event led to a new cut of the film being made following critical feedback from the audience and professional advice from members of the research project - Osita Okagbue and Ben Pester. This event was video archived. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Some influence on the development of Nollywood film. 
 
Title Salman Rushdie and Contested Diasporic Histories 
Description Professor Bryan Cheyette of University of Reading gave a paper as an extra seminar event in the 'Beyond the Linear Narrative' project seminar series, entitled: Salman Rushdie and contested diasporic histories. This event is archived by transcription of the paper itself and video archive of the post-talk discussion. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Impact on scholarly community. 
 
Title Sea/Woman 
Description The new international collaboration, Sea/Woman is about a Woman/performer searching for something indefinable. Uneasy, hemmed in, she dives repeatedly into her text to forget herself and become Her - but surfaces remembering even more. What wreckage is she finding down there? The collaboration is a convergence of different histories in theatrical research. Our project began as an exploration of age and memory (personal and cultural) and about what to perform - live - how and perhaps why, today. During its development, inspired by Ibsen's domestic tragedy, our work, inevitably, became haunted by real tragedies of geopolitical disaster and conflict. This performance takes the Serbian word for rehearsals 'proba' meaning 'to test' or 'taste' and the French 'répétition' meaning 'to repeat' quite literally before your eyes, inviting the spectator to witness a normally private process: the fractured and spiralling dive into conscious and unconscious association as the actor prepares her role. As she tests and repeats the Ibsen text, slipping between her real self and the imaginary she is struggling to represent, she finds both echoes and dissonance within her own life, a relationship with the past and insight into what it might mean 'to act'. Sea/Woman is performing in the UK and in residency in Beirut, Lebanon sponsored by the British Council, in January 2011. The project continues performing in the UK and internationally from Autumn 2011. Previews: DAH Teatar, Belgrade, 3 - 4 December 2010 UK and international touring from January 2011 Anna Furse (Athletes of the Heart, UK) Maja Maja Mitic (DAH Teatar, Serbia) Antonella Diana (Teatret OM, Denmark) 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact A feminist deconstruction of a classic dramatise text that challenges the historical experience women and men have had of gender through the actors' testing of the Ibsen play. 
 
Title Seminar: Disrupting the Narrative: Anna Furse & Professor Janis Jefferies 
Description Two distinguished Goldsmiths academics and practitioners Anna Furse and Professor Janis Jefferies presented papers entitled: Anna Furse In every litre of seawater there are two tablespoons of salt.... : on building the text of SEA/WOMAN Professor Janis Jefferies Intimate Technologies: Katie Mitchell, Virginia Woolf and The Waves 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact Impact on practitioners and scholars. 
 
Title The Last Weekend 
Description Novel by Blake Morrison 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact Widely read by the general pubic and favourably reviewed 
 
Title Transformations of Narrative in the Postcolonial Era 
Description The second international conference focusing on the nature of the forms developed by postcolonial writers and dramatists, in the context of the breakdown of western grand narratives, the impact of non-western traditions and the emergence of counter-narratives of resistance and reinvention. It included, along with academic papers, performances and readings by practising postcolonial artists. The conference was attended by well over 100 delegates over the course of the three days, attending academic papers, interactive exercises, performances and readings. Keynote speakers were Nigerian playwright and scholar, Professor Femi Osofisan and Trinidadian Novelist and Dramatist, Earl Lovelace. There were also performances by practitioners Su-Andi and theatre company Goosun ART-illery. Earl Lovelace himself gave a public reading as well as his keynote 'in conversation', and Professor Osofisan's keynote paper was followed by a rehearsed reading of his play 'Tegonni: an African Antigone' 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2010 
Impact The combination of distinguished artists Femi Osofisan and Earl Lovelace and the reading of Osofisan's 'Tegonni' and the rich mix of events drew a large number of people from within the scholarly community and beyond to participate in the events. 
 
Title Vauxhall 
Description Novel by Gabriel Gbadamosi, published by Telegram. Gbadamosi was an AHRC Creative Research Fellow during the first two years of the project and who contributed greatly to the research and creative activities and was himself encouraged to write the novel and inspired to reflect on diasporic experience in London by working on the project, being mentored (officially) by the P I and (unofficially) by the Project Consultant to integrate critical reflection with creative writing. 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2013 
Impact Translated into French By Elizabeth Gilles (Editions Zoe, 2015) Widely read as a result of winning two awards: Tibor Jones Pageturner Prize for Fiction; Best International Novel at the Sharjah Book Fair, 2013 
 
Title Writing the Self 
Description Second in the seminar strand led by Osita Okagbue: On the theme 'Writing the Self: Performance and African Diasporic Identities in the UK'. Presentations from two speakers: Lynette Goddard & Mojisola Adebayo, followed by discussion of African and diasporic voices in writing & performance in the UK. Both Lynette and Mojisola continued to be connected to the project following this seminar event, committing to present papers and workshops at future events, and becoming part of the wider artistic community engaged with the project. This event was video archived 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2009 
Impact Mojisola Adebayo has continued her work at Goldsmiths and around the world including the premiere of 'I Stand Corrected' in Cape Town in 2012 and her participation with Pan Arts in the Theatre for Refugees project in Calais. Her collection of plays was published by Oberon books in 2011. Her theatre work has made an important impact in London, South Africa, Palestine, Jordan, Brazil and Spain. 
 
Description What began as a wide-ranging research project that aimed to examine the fracturing of grand narratives in (largely) postcolonial writing and performance has generated much intensely personal testimony around the issues of diasporic identity. There is clearly a widespread interest among Afro-Caribbean communities in London on issues of diaspora and diasporic identity, to share experiences, both with others and with scholarly researchers. Plays, workshops and seminars provoked widespread interventions from audiences who wished to give voice to their opinions in a way that is often denied them.
Exploitation Route Sharing of artistic work and provision of resources for artists to stage and disseminate their creative techniques and scholars to engage the public with the potential uses of their critical findings via local arts centres and educational institutions.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
 
Description Since the last report in March 2016, "British Musical Theatre Since 1950" has been published. The volume addresses questions of cultural identity in the British musical, critically examining notions of the popular and identity in modern British musicals, as well as introducing consideration of Black British and Asian musicals for the first time into published discourse on the musical; because it is already being used as a prescribed text at secondary and tertiary levels, the book is making some impact in the educational sphere. In December 2016, it was placed sixth in a list of the top ten theatre books of 2016 on the web.
First Year Of Impact 2016
Sector Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural