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Palgrave Macmillan

Drama, Politics, and Evolution

Cliodynamics in Play

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Bruce McConachie

    1. Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA

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  • Outlines the evolution of our political nature and explores many of the rituals, plays, films, and other performances
  • Ranges from an initiation ritual in the Mbendjela tribe in the Congo to a 1947 drama by Bertolt Brecht
  • Examines the gradual disintegration of social cohesion underlying the rise of polarized politics in the USA after 1965

Part of the book series: Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance (CSLP)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Orientations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2
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    2. Genes, Culture, and History in Coevolution

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 3-27

    3. Ritual and Dramatic Performatives in History

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 29-60

  3. Political Universals in History and Performance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 61-62
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    2. Coevolution in the Pleistocene

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 63-91

    3. Destructive Creation in World History, 9000 BCE–1700

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 93-126

    4. Capitalism, Tribalism, and Democracy, 1500–1960

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 127-163

  4. Neoliberal Capitalism and Political Disintegration in the US

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 165-168
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    2. Postwar Hegemony and the Reagan Reversal, 1945–1985

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 169-192

    3. Neoliberalism and Political Realignment, 1980–2015

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 193-225

    4. Neoliberal Politics, Polarized Films, and Authoritarianism, 2000–2020

      • Bruce McConachie
      Pages 227-285

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 287-295
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Keywords

About this book

This book outlines the evolution of our political nature over two million years and explores many of the rituals, plays, films, and other performances that gave voice and legitimacy to various political regimes in our species’ history. Our genetic and cultural evolution during the Pleistocene Epoch bestowed a wide range of predispositions on our species that continue to shape the politics we support and the performances we enjoy. The book’s case studies range from an initiation ritual in the Mbendjela tribe in the Congo to a 1947 drama by Bertolt Brecht and include a popular puppet play in Tokugawa Japan. A final section examines the gradual disintegration of social cohesion underlying the rise of polarized politics in the USA after 1965, as such films as The Godfather, Independence Day, The Dark Knight Rises, and Joker accelerated the nation’s slide toward authoritarian Trumpism.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA

    Bruce McConachie

About the author

Since retiring from the University of Pittsburgh, Bruce McConachie has published Theatre Histories: An Introduction (3rd edn) with three co-authors and The Routledge Companion to Theatre, Performance and Cognitive Science, co-authored with Rick Kemp.  Previous single-authored books include: Melodramatic Formations: American Theatre and Society, 1820-1870 (1992), American Theatre in the Culture of the Cold War (2003), Engaging Audiences: A Cognitive Approach to Spectating in the Theatre (2008), Theatre and Mind (2013), and Evolution, Cognition, and Performance (2015).  A past President of the American Society for Theatre Research, he also continues to serve as an editor and reader for several academic publishers.        

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