Performing Race and Empire in Victorian Glasgow

Book / register by contacting the Special Collections department of the Mitchell Library – via telephone 0141 287 2988 or email specialcollections@glasgowlife.org.uk.

The event is free-of-charge.

In the years of the expanding British empire, Glasgow's Victorian theatres were places where race was constructed, contested, and reimagined. This talk will examine two forms of popular entertainment that engaged with race in ways both controversial and subversive: "man-monkey" performances and "dog and Indian" plays. Dr. Deven Parker will discuss how these highly popular forms helped to construct modern notions of race through stereotyping practices for Glasgow audiences while also revealing to them the extent to which race is the product of repeated performances.