Colonized by Fear: A Postcolonial Reading of Post-9/11 Theatre

<p>Since the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, the theatre has spent a great deal of ink examining the emotional and political reactions to the fear that settled over the nation and arguably the world. The shift in the global consciousness in the wake of the attacks was on such a scale that the search for identity that it instigated is akin to that experienced by colonial nations of the past. Borders and occupying armies are no longer necessary to create the cultural and emotional effects of imperial control. In this paper, I set out to examine certain plays that deal directly with 9/11 and its aftermath through a new kind of postcolonial lens born from an abstract colonial force that has emerged in this age of globalization. The playwrights who chose to write explicitly about 9/11 paint a compelling landscape of a world colonized first by the fear instilled by the terrorists, and then the manipulation of that fear by the United States for imperial ends. Reading these plays as artifacts of a postcolonial society, this paper details how post-9/11 drama examines, deconstructs, lampoons and even appropriates the tools of Empire in order to expose the workings of an abstract colony of fear.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Campus Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theatre and Dance

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Goff, Jennifer Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Amy Lehman

• Arts and Humanities
• Theatre and Performance Studies
• Postcolonial
• September 11
• Theatre

Statement dc:rights

• © 2010, Jennifer Ann Goff

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/176

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarcommons.sc.edu:etd-1177