{"id":180,"date":"2022-05-20T03:08:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T08:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/?p=180"},"modified":"2022-05-19T17:33:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T22:33:24","slug":"too-little-heterogeneity-histories-theories-and-questions-of-social-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/2022\/05\/20\/too-little-heterogeneity-histories-theories-and-questions-of-social-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Little Heterogeneity?: Histories, Theories and Questions of Social Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Row X blog guest post by Lynne Conner<\/a>, Chair and Professor at the Department of Theatre at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the first in a series on Row X featuring short essays written by the co-editors of the Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>a major reference work published in April 2022. The series is introduced here<\/a>.
The Companion represents a truly multi-dimensional exploration of the inter-relationships between audiences and performance. Spread over four sections and featuring the research and thinking of sixty international contributing authors, the volume considers audiences contextually and historically, through both qualitative and quantitative empirical research, and places them within current conversations in the field of audience research. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The chapter \u201cEthics in Audience Research: By the Book or on the Hop?\u201d by Katya Johanson<\/a> and Hilary Glow<\/a><\/strong> is available for free to everyone. Follow this link<\/a>, then click<\/strong> on \u201cOpen access content is available for this title\u201d to access the chapter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post your comments and questions to X readers to engage with us about important issues central to audience research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Too Little Heterogeneity?: Histories, Theories and Questions of Social Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Lynne Conner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The audience studies field has long since acknowledged that our research practice should include many histories<\/em><\/strong>, many theories<\/em><\/strong>, and many analyses<\/em><\/strong>. The question, then, of why we haven\u2019t managed to produce them at a rate or in a way that adequately reflects the heterogenous and plural nature of performing arts audiences around the globe hovers over Part One of the Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts<\/a><\/em> (as it does over the entire volume).

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Lynne Conner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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All seven chapters included in the \u2018Histories, Theories and Questions of Social Justice\u2019 section are focused, in one way or another, on the need for greater awareness over matters of power, equity and inclusion in audience research practices. The authors in Part One argue for the unsettling of the field\u2019s established patterns, habits and assumptions that are, upon reflection, informed by systemic racism, sexism and ableism (overt and subtle) by positing important questions about our methodological and narrative assumptions as audience researchers.

Here\u2019s a sampling of some of those questions \u2013 many touching on notions of selfhood, identity and power \u2013 that inform the book\u2019s chapters:  
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