The Performative Power of Vocality offers a fresh perspective on voice
as a subject of critical inquiry by employing an interdisciplinary and
cross-cultural approach.
Conventional treatment of voice in theatre and performance studies too
often regards it as a subcategory of actor training, associated with the
established methods that have shaped voice pedagogy within Western
theatre schools, conservatories, and universities. This monograph
significantly deviates from these dominant models through its
investigation of the non-discursive, material, and affective efficacy of
vocality, with a focus on orally transmitted vocal traditions. Drawing
from her performance training, research collaborations, and commitment
to cultural diversity, Magnat proposes a dialogical approach to
vocality. Inclusive of established, current, and emerging research
perspectives, this approach sheds light on the role of vocality as a
vital source of embodied knowledge, creativity, and well-being grounded
in process, practice, and place, as well as a form of social and
political agency.
An excellent resource for qualitative researchers, artist-scholars, and
activists committed to decolonization, cultural revitalization, and
social justice, this book opens up new avenues of understanding across
Indigenous and Western philosophy, performance studies, musicology,
ethnomusicology, sound and voice studies, anthropology, sociology,
phenomenology, cognitive science, physics, ecology, and biomedicine.
