Episode 8: Associate Professor Ian Maxwell/The one about Theatre

Episode hosts: Ben Nickl and Rodney Taveira About our guest on this episode: Ian’s research seeks to understand both how people use creative practices to make sense of their lives and experiences, particularly in the context of extreme circumstances, and how we might use the idea of performance, more generally, as a way of thinking about being human. His current projects are, first, a performance-led exploration of performance work made by German/Austrian refugees in Australia during the Second World War, and, second, a book about avant-garde performance in Australia from the 1960s.About the episode hosts:Ben is a Senior Lecturer in The University of Sydney’s Department of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. He works on popular technologies of mediation like humour and laughter and is the research coordinator for the Australasian Humour Studies Network. His latest book is called Moral Dimensions of Humour (Tampere University Press, open access, 2024). Rodney is the Academic Director, Undergraduate Coordinator, and a Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the United States Studies Centre. At The University of Sydney, he teaches across the American Studies program, and his research areas include contemporary American fiction, film and television, the interrelation of literature and visual culture, humour, and post-World War II American cultural politics.Acknowledgement of Country:We would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which the University of Sydney has been built, and which were taken from them without their consent, treaty or compensation. Most episodes of this podcast were recorded on this land. This land has always been a learning space for many Aboriginal nations, and as teachers and students, and people of all kinds of origins, we can draw strength and guidance from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, one of the oldest knowledge systems in the world.Want to come on as a guest or co-host, or get in touch aboutsomething else? Simply email [email protected](AHSN research coordinator and ‘Cutting Edge’ host), visit the AHSN website https://ahsnhumourstudies.org/  and follow/subscribe to us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AHSNHumour/, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ahsnconference or Twitter/X @AHSN_Humour.Special thanks and all credit for editing and sound engineering goes to Jacob Craig/USYD FASS media room studios.