2006-09-05
IFTR World Congress - a Review
The 15th World Congress of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) was held between August 7 and 12, in Helsinki, Finland. Under the heading Global vs Local, the contributions for the conference ranged from issues of strict local concern to explorations of all that pertains to globalization.
Photo by Mirjami Heikkinen
The IFTR conference was divided in Keynote Speakers sessions, Panel sessions and Kay McDonnell New Scholars Forum sessions. The wise scheduling allowed for a good distribution of attendants among the sessions, especially in what concerns the New Scholars Forum. The fact that there was no superimposition of sessions has lead to generous amounts of public in the new scholars sessions, which is always of utmost importance for the ones presenting their work. Parallel to the conference, there was a well planned cultural program that solved the language problems that would inevitably happen if attendants would go to regular Finnish theatres. The organization of other activities and the provision of services to the participants, such as internet access and excursions, were carefully prepared.
In general, the contributions were characterized by being of high quality and quite leveled in terms of thematic diversity. Of course, the proportion of scholars connected to the humanities is still high when compared to those connected with the social sciences and others. Still, an increasing number of people is beginning to gain interest in different avenues of theatre research and using tools normally associated with disciplines as varied as management, economics or statistics.
The 15th World Congress of the International Federation for Theatre Research was well organized, presented a collection of valuable papers and produced important results in terms of the interaction among scholars.
Website: http://www.firt-iftr.org
In general, the contributions were characterized by being of high quality and quite leveled in terms of thematic diversity. Of course, the proportion of scholars connected to the humanities is still high when compared to those connected with the social sciences and others. Still, an increasing number of people is beginning to gain interest in different avenues of theatre research and using tools normally associated with disciplines as varied as management, economics or statistics.
The 15th World Congress of the International Federation for Theatre Research was well organized, presented a collection of valuable papers and produced important results in terms of the interaction among scholars.
Website: http://www.firt-iftr.org
An article by Susana Graça, correspondent, Lisbon (Portugal)
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