Please find the official call for papers on the journal website: https://www.utpjournals.press/journals/tric/call-for-papers

We invite researchers to submit article proposals for a special issue on marginalization and inclusion in the francophone theatre spaces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The special issue will appear in Theatre Research in Canada (University of Toronto Press), with a tentative issue number of 46.1.

Theatre practitioners in these official language minority communities face challenges such as scarcity of resources, the need to meet the needs and desires of their audience, and the dominance of Anglophone culture. Yet, these communities are motivated by a desire to combat various forms of marginalization that intersect with anglonormativity, such as racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia, or ableism. As a result of these various pressures, new strategies may emerge to provide safe space for doubly marginalized people from normative and oppressive forces.

This special issue will focus on the following questions: How do marginalization and various forms of exclusion manifest themselves in the theatrical context of Western Canada and the territories? In what way do theatres working within Francophone minority communities in these regions use strategies of cultural resistance in their theatrical productions to counter oppressive and normative forces? To what extent can the theatrical practices of Francophone minority communities in Western Canada and the territories be seen as performative acts that challenge dominant cultural norms and subvert power structures and normative ideologies? What norms could be used to examine dominant ideas and practices? Is it possible to identify unique aesthetic elements relating to inclusion and diversity in these performances? How does the position of practitioners facilitate or complicate the transformation of theatre in minority settings?

Answers to such questions, as revealed by rarely studied situations and cases, will provide a better understanding of the current state of challenges in the Canadian theatre community as a whole. By analyzing the themes, characters, and artistic choices of Francophone theatre practitioners in Western Canada and the territories, this issue will examine the construction of Francophone minority identity and its intersections with Indigeneity, Blackness, immigration, gender, sexuality, social status, age, ability, and other aspects of social position or identity. Thus, this issue builds on a special issue in the same journal edited by Louise Ladouceur (33.2, 2012) which focused on the marginality and hybridity inherent in Western Canadian Francophone theatre. In addition, our goal is to bring a critical eye to the power structures that govern social position within these communities.

Articles may include case studies, theoretical analyses, and critical reflections on the role of theatre in combating marginalization and creating spaces of cultural resistance. We will allow the inclusion of complementary analyses of other minority theatres in the same regions if they help to complexify and relativize the Francophone minority situation.

Publication Schedule and Submission Guidelines

• Article proposal: Authors are invited to submit a proposal between 500 and 750 words. The deadline for submitting the proposal is October 15th, 2023. Article proposals can be submitted in French or English.
  • Send your proposals to jek875@usask.ca, cc’ed to tric.rtac@utpress.utoronto.ca.
• Proposal Response: Authors will receive a response regarding their article proposal no later than November 15th, 2023.
• Full Article: If the article proposal is accepted, authors must then submit their full article. The article must contain between 7,000 and 8,000 words, including notes and bibliography. The deadline for submitting the complete article is March 31st, 2024.
• Article Response: Authors will receive a response regarding their full article no later than September 2024.
• Publication: The issue will be published in the spring of 2025.
• Languages: We envision a bilingual issue in French and English. Please submit manuscripts in either language.
• Author’s Guide: For more information on formatting articles, authors can consult the author’s guide: https://www.utpjournals.press/journals/tric/submissions.

Special Issue Editing Team

Jeffrey Klassen (University of Saskatchewan, jek875@usask.ca)

Jérôme Melançon (University of Regina, Jerome.Melancon@uregina.ca)