| dc.description.abstract | This paper presents the results of a research project on Chilean theatre
historiography and the construction of local canon. We analysed the limited
number of texts produced in the country that might be considered historical
studies in the sense that they address the development of theatre either at a
certain moment, or throughout a specific period of time. At a first breakdown of
this corpus, we found a great diversity of problems being addressed, difficulties
in establishing the criteria for selecting them, certain randomness in the
disciplinary approaches, and a clear disparity in the depth of their analysis. The
evident lack of a proper disciplinary debate raised new questions. What kind of
cultural hegemonies are at stake when representing, and narrating the history
of Chilean Theatre? Do these texts critically reflect on what a history of theatre
means from an epistemological, and methodological point of view? Are they just
mirroring the canon already established? If so, how is this canon built? How
does it circulate? How is it preserved? Does it change through time? And,
finally, what role does it play when the historiographic density is so thin?
In order to answer all this questions, we choose a paradigmatic case.
When the first National Junta was established in 1810, Chile began its
movement towards independence from the Spanish Crown. One hundred years
later, as part of the centennial celebrations of the Independence, President
Montt commanded an anthology of the plays written throughout the century that
was to include “the most meritorious plays, those worthy of being preserved”.
The presidential request was determined by the urge to create a particular
identity for this new nation state; a move in which positivist historians engaged
themselves some decades before when they started configuring the big
narrative of Chilean National History. Interestingly enough, when the moment to
commemorate 200 years of Independence came along, the command was
again the same. The Bicentennial Commission asked for another anthology of
the plays written between 1910 and 2010 (Bicentennial Anthology), which was
to include those plays “worthy of being highlighted”. The iteration, and
persistence of the very same kind of publishing project that highlighted played a
fundamental role in establishing the current Chilean theatrical canon. And the
fact that local theatre historiography has just started to develop as an
autonomous research field, these anthologies stand in for a proper theatre
history. | |
