Prof. Lisa Merrill (Hofstra) Lecture On “Spectacularising Black Bodies on 19th Century Stages,” ISM, Liverpool 27/6/17

Image: As a performative intervention, William Wells Brown placed Punch’s 17 May 1851 illustration of ‘The Virginian Slave’ alongside Powers’ sculpture of ‘The Greek Slave’

IBAR is proud to announce that former IBAR Visiting Fellow, Prof. Lisa Merrill (Hofstra University NY) will give a lecture on “Spectacularising Black Bodies on 19th Century Stages.” It will take place at the Anthony Walker Centre at the International Slavery, Liverpool on 27 June 2017. In this talk, cultural and performance historian Prof. Merrill will explore ways staged interventions and appearances by formerly enslaved Black Americans and artistic renderings of the bodies of Black and enslaved persons contributed to the ways 19th century British spectators came to ‘see’ slavery.

Prof Merrill has widely published on Black Atlantic and African American theatre and performance history, including on race, slavery and performance. In 2016 she was awarded the Oscar G. Brockett Essay Prize for “Most Fitting Companions: Making Mixed-Race Bodies Visible in Antebellum Public Spaces,” published in Theatre Survey, May 2015. Professor Merrill was awarded the Eccles Centre Visiting Professorship in North American Studies at the British Library for 2010-2011: “Performing Race and Reading Antebellum American Bodies.”

For further details, including the location of the venue, and how to register, please visit the event page of the Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS).