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Dr Ola Johansson left LICA in September 2009 Lecturer: Theatre Studies
|  Ola Johansson |
BACKGROUND
Ola Johansson joined Theatre Studies at Lancaster University as a lecturer in 2005. He holds a BA from New York and Stockholm. He wrote his PhD at Stockholm University, Sweden, about performance art and contemporary theatre, with a special focus on the live art of playwrights and directors like Richard Foreman, Samuel Beckett, Lars Norén and Christoph Marthaler. His doctoral dissertation, The Room's Need of a Name: A Philosophical Study of Performance, was awarded the prize for best PhD in the humanities at Stockholm University in 2000. He has since published articles that relate live art to philosophical and anthropological domains.
He has also worked as an editor, reader, translator, theatre and culture critic, and documentary journalist for Swedish as well as international journals, publication companies, and media. He has been an editor for the Swedish theatre journal Visslingar & Rop, with special responsibility for the theory section since 1998 and a theatre and cultural critic at Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish Daily Post) 2000-2005.
CURRENT RESEARCH
Since 2002, the philosophical and anthropological issues raised by Johansson in his doctoral thesis have been adapted to explore how African community theatre is deployed for HIV preventive purposes in East Africa. The project, "AIDS and the art of survival: African community theatre as HIV prevention", examines and evaluates the efficacy of prevention practices of African youth, and especially the participatory features of community theatre. Epidemic risk factors, as depicted in performances and reported by youth in performances and talks, are correlated with official reports on the driving forces behind the epidemic according to various stakeholders. The methodology involves performance analyses, focus group discussions, interviews, and interdisciplinary interpretations of epidemiological and political circumstances. Evaluative criteria are motivated in terms of gender balanced organizations, health oriented education, incentives for income generating activities, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and the "best practice" principles of UNAIDS. The project thus aims to expose and suggest innovative potentials in HIV prevention practices and present scientifically valid results, intended for academic use as well as practicable AIDS interventions. The project will be completed with a final publication in 2008.
This research project has been supported by two principal sponsors in Sweden, namely Wennergrens Stiftelse and The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The latter agency has renewed its support for the project by means of a £70 000 grant over two years (2006-2008).
OTHER INFORMATION
Consultant for the CNN documentary "Staying Alive" on African community theatre against HIV/AIDS, broadcast on World AIDS Day, 1 December, 2004. Member of The Drama Tool, an internet based organization that coordinates information on African theatre. The Drama Tool is connected with The National Organization for Authorized Drama Instructors (RAD), East Africa Theatre Institute (EATI), and is supported by The Swedish International Development Cooperation.
Ola Johansson welcomes potential postgraduates interested in researching the following areas: African theatre, Non-Western theatre, Arts for Development, Applied drama, Community theatre, Drama/Theatre in education, Postcolonial drama and studies, Performance studies, Interdisciplinary studies, Performance art.
Book chapter
'Performative Interventions: African Community Theatre in the Age of AIDS', in Ritual and Event: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Franko, Mark (ed.), London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Articles
'The Lives and Deaths of Zakia: How AIDS changed African Community Theatre and vice versa', in Theatre Research International, Vol. 32, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
"Världens viktigaste teater? Konsten att efterbilda och motverka hiv/aids i Afrika" ("The Most Important Theatre in the World? The Art of Reconstructing and Counteracting HIV/AIDS in Africa", Teatertidningen, No. 3, Stockholm: 2004.
"Richard Schechner och performancebegreppet" ("Richard Schechner and the Concept of Performance"), Visslingar & Rop, Stockholm: No. 1-2, 2004.
"It's the Real Thing: Performance and Murder in Sweden", European Review (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Vol. 8, 2001), co-written with Janelle Reinelt (UC Irvine) and Willmar Sauter (Stockholm University).
"From Stage to Page via the Performative Turn", Nordic Theatre Studies (Umeå, Vol. 13, 2001). Reviews
Review of A History of Theatre in Africa (ed.) Martin Banham (Cambridge University Press, 2004) for Teatertidningen, No. 3, 2006.
"Hotel Pro Forma", Nordic Theatre Studies (Umeå, vol. 12, 1999).
Newspaper Articles
"Politisk teater när Bush går till val" ("Political Theatre in New York as Bush Heads for Election"), Svenska Dagbladet, 21/02/2004. The article was also published in the French weekly paper Courier International as "Réveillez-vous, réveillez-vous!", June 2004.
"Afrikansk längtan i vinnarfilm" ("African longing in awarded film": on film festival in Zanzibar, some edutainment movies on AIDS; Svenska Dagladet, 2003-07-31).
"Sydafrikas historia på scen" ("The History of South Africa on Stage": on festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, some plays on AIDS; Svenska Dagbladet, 2002-07-24).
"På scenen bryts Afrikas aidstabu" ("The African AIDS Taboo is Breached on Stage": on a theatre festival entitled "Break the Silence: Fight AIDS!", in Bagamoyo, Tanzania; Svenska Dagbladet, 2001-10-17.
SELECTED CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA, WORKSHOPS
"Empty Promises and Promising Failures: The Conditions of HIV Prevention and Community Theatre in East Africa", Seminar at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1 December 2006.
"Eschatological Fieldnotes: Community Theatre, AIDS, and other Passing Affairs in Tanzania". Conference, "Playing Politics: Current Approaches to Performance Studies" at Stockholm University, 12-14 October 2006.
Participation in workshop and public performance, directed by Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes (La Pocha Nostra, San Francisco), at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, June 2006.
"The Death of the Expert, or, The Survival of the Amateur: African Community Theatre as HIV Prevention", Video conference "Practice as Research" at Lancaster University with UC Irvine and UC Davies, USA, 27 April 2006.
Presentation on interdisciplinary performance art and community theatre in festival contexts (with Amanda Newall), International Festival symposium at The Gasworks gallery, London, organized by International Festival, 5-7 May 2006.
"Best Practices for What? African Community Theatre as HIV Prevention", at the conference Structures of Vulnerability, organized by the Swedish International Development Agency at Stockholm University, 13 January 2005.
"HIV/AIDS and Equality", conference organized by Africa Groups of Sweden (AGS). Participated with two lectures on theatre, media and youth in the African AIDS epidemic, 27-28 November 2004.
"Contemporary African Comedia and AIDS", lectures at The National Academy of Mime and Acting, Stockholm, 29/01/2004 and 13/05/2004.
"Theatre for Development and HIV/AIDS in East Africa", lecture at the Theatrical Arts Department, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, 4 November 2003.
"Community Theatre as Performative Intervention in the African AIDS Pandemic", conference "Post-Ritual Actions: Performances, Events, Art Practices" at the University of California, Santa Cruz, 4-5 January 2003.
"Performative Speech in African Community Theatre on HIV/AIDS", at the conference "Language, Literature and the Discourse Of HIV/AIDS in Africa", University of Botswana i Gaborone 24-28 June 2002, organized by UNAIDS & University of Botswana.
7th Performance Studies International Conference at Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz 28 March-1 April 2001. Presented the paper "From Stage to Page via the Performative Turn".
American Society for Theatre Research/Theatre Library Association Conference at The City University of New York 9-12 November 2000. Presented the paper "Bob Dylan and the Cultural Contingency of Performance, or, It's the End of the Artworld as We Know It (and I feel fine)".
TRANSLATIONS (ENGLISH TO SWEDISH)
Diamond, Elin, "Identifikationens politiska 'vi'" ("The Violence of 'We': Politicising Identification"), Visslingar & Rop (Stockholm: 2001:11).
Schechner, Richard, "Ett nytt paradigm för teaterstudier" ("A New Paradigm for Theatre Studies"), Visslingar & Rop (Stockholm: 1998:5).
Worthen, William B., "Textualitet vs. Performance" ("Disciplines of the Text/Sites of Performance"), Visslingar & Rop (Stockholm: 1998:6).
Sauter, Willmar "Teater eller performance eller otitulerade händelser? Några kommentarer om begreppsbestämningen för våra studiers mening" ("Theatre or Performance or Untitled Event(s)?: Some Comments on the Conceptualization of the Object of our Studies"), Visslingar & Rop (Stockholm: 1999:7).