Skip to content

Network

CECTON Mailing List

The Colonial-Era Caribbean Theatre and Opera Network (CECTON) currently functions primarily as a mailing list via which people can share information about research and other activities relating to colonial-era Caribbean theatre and opera. To join the mailing list, please email Julia Prest ([email protected]).

History

CECTON was set up by Julia Prest, Professor of French and Caribbean Studies at the University of St Andrews, in February 2021.  Its founding activities from February 2021 to January 2023 were generously funded by a Research Network Grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In its initial phase (2021-23), CECTON comprised a small network of scholars of the colonial-era Caribbean and its theatre and opera traditions working in different academic disciplines, language areas, geographical regions and at different stages in their academic career (see People). In our discussion workshop and conference (see Events), we sought to identify and unpick some of the methodological, theoretical and practical challenges that we encounter in our research. These range from engaging with different colonial archives to researching the colonial era from a post-colonial perspective, and from our attempts to uncover hidden or marginalised voices in various sources to the difficulties of working on performances that are, by their very nature, transitory.

Our findings were published in an edited volume, Colonial-Era Caribbean Theatre: Issues in Research, Writing and Methodology (Liverpool University Press, 2023) (see Publication). In collaboration with theatre makers, we also created a new theatre piece, which was premiered in Edinburgh at the Being Human Festival in 2021 (see Performances).