The archive and the repertoire : performing cultural memory in the Americas

In "The Archive and the Repertoire", pre-eminent performance studies scholar Diana Taylor provides a new understanding of the vital role of performance in the Americas.

From plays to official events to grass roots protests, performance, she argues, must be taken seriously as a means of storing and transmitting knowledge.

She shows how the repertoire of embodied memory - conveyed in gestures, the spoken word, movement, dance, song, and other performances - offers alternative perspectives to those derived from the written archive and is particularly useful to a reconsideration of historical processes of transnational contact. "The Archive and the Repertoire" invites a re-mapping of the Americas based on traditions of embodied practice.

Taylor considers contemporary performances from North and South America.

Among these are public demonstrations in Argentina over DNA and photographic identification of "the disappeared;" plays of Peru's leading theatre collective, Yuyachkani; performance artists Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Pena's show "Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit" ..., astrological readings by Univision personality Walter Mercado, the theatre of mourning surrounding PrincessThrough these studies and meditations on the media's representation of the Twin Towers disaster, New Yorkers' participation in the crisis through memorials and photography, and her own role as a witness to the events of 9/11, Taylor highlights the crucial role of performance in culture.