Performing Honour and Gender in Theatre, Dance, Film

Summary

The project explores the concept of honour and ‘honour related violence’ within a matrix of political power, marginalization, and debates about custom and tradition. Honour is essential to human society. Yet this value is resistant to simple definition because of its persistence as a literary and dramatic trope, as well as a social practice, across time and cultures and in a variety of forms. Despite it complexity however, certain things can be asserted. Firstly, because it is a social and (at least partially) performative quality, it depends upon the recognition of the surrounding society. F.H. Stewart (1994) and Kwame Anthony Appiah (2010) define honour as ‘being entitled to respect’ (Appiah: 13) or ‘the right to be treated as having a certain worth’ (Stewart: 21). Both identify the ‘honor group’ (Stewart: 55) or ‘honor world’ (Appiah: 20) as ‘a group of people who acknowledge the same codes’ (Appiah: 20); and the code ‘says how people of certain identities can gain the right to respect, how they can lose it, and how having and losing honor changes the way they should be treated’ (Appiah, 175).

During the past two decades however, increasing numbers of newspaper articles, think-tank reports, scholarly research, documentaries, and fiction films have explored ‘honour crimes’ and ‘honour killings’, often conflating the two. The term ‘honour crime’ is a problematic one, as Hossain and Welchman point out:  it is imprecise and exoticizing, and it identifies the crime using the perpetrator’s terminology to frame the action and its victim (2005: p.2). However, it is commonly used. These reports and representations are varied, from documentaries to media reports that range from sober analysis of the issue to sensationalist reporting of acts of violence and murder, to thriller-genre films plotted around honour killings. What these representations tend to share is that they all identify honour crimes with ethnic minority communities from South Asia and from Muslim countries. In this way concepts and practices of individual and family honour, which are actually diverse, become homogenized and associated with people who are ‘Other’ within ‘mainstream’ (i.e. white, secular) society. Honour and honour-related violence are thus linked to foreignness, pre-modernity, ignorance, and common misconceptions of Islam, often reiterating stereotypes of South Asian and Muslim men and women.

The topic seeks to examine the relationship of honour to gender, and aims (without promoting false equivalences) to examine the function of honour in Western European discourses in suppressing women’s civil rights, women’s capacity to exercise those rights, and violence against women.

Doctoral projects might focus on any of the following:

• Representing Honour in Drama / Theatre / Dance;
• Honour and shame in performance; performing the shameful or honourable body;
• Honour and gender in performances of public identity / gendered identity;
• Violence and honour in Drama / Theatre / Dance;
• Honour and Nationalism
• The embodied performance of honour in everyday life;
• Applied approaches using differing definitions of ‘honour’ to address and respond to misogynistic attitudes / misogynistic violence;
• Applied approaches to the conception of honour in conflict and post-conflict civilian communities.

Initial inquiries to Dr Lisa Fitzpatrick at l.fitzpatrick@ulster.ac.uk

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• Experience using research methods or other approaches relevant to the subject domain
• Research proposal of 2000 words detailing aims, objectives, milestones and methodology of the project
• A demonstrable interest in the research area associated with the studentship

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

• First Class Honours (1st) Degree
• Completion of Masters at a level equivalent to commendation or distinction at Ulster
• Publications record appropriate to career stage
• Experience of presentation of research findings
• A comprehensive and articulate personal statement
• Use of personal initiative as evidenced by record of work above that normally expected at career stage.

Equal Opportunities

The University is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community, particularly from those with disabilities.

Appointment will be made on merit.

Funding and eligibility

This project is funded by:

• Department for the Economy (DfE)
• Vice Chancellor's Research Scholarship (VCRS)

Our fully funded PhD scholarships will cover tuition fees and provide a maintenance allowance of £19,237 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).  A Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of £900 per annum is also available.

These scholarships, funded via the Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Vice Chancellor’s Research Scholarships (VCRS), are open to applicants worldwide, regardless of residency or domicile.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies.