Drama, politics, and evolution : Cliodynamics in play 1st ed.

Author

• McConachie, Bruce

Additional Author(s)

-

Publisher

Cham, Switzerland : Springer International Publishing, 2021

Language

English

ISBN

9783030813772

Series

Cognitive studies in literature and performance

Subject(s)

• SOCIAL EVOLUTION
• THEATER AND SOCIETY
• THEATER--POLITICAL ASPECTS

Notes

. .

Abstract

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.

Physical Dimension

Number of Page(s)

1 online resource (xvii, 295 p.)

Dimension

-

Other Desc.

-

Summary / Review / Table of Content

Chapter 1: Genes, Culture and History in Coevolution
Chapter 2: Cultural Performatives in History
Chapter 3: Coevolution in the Pleistocene
Chapter 4: Destructive Creation in World History
Chapter 5: Post-war Hegemony and the Reagan Reversal, 1945-1985
Chapter 6: Neoliberalism and Political Realignment, 1980-2015
Chapter 7: The Better Angels of Our Nature or the Age of Trump, 2000-2020

Exemplar(s)

#	Accession No.	Call Number	Location	Status
1.	00655/22	792.01 McC D	Online !	Available