Washington University Press Search Results Page

Performing Vulnerability

Risking Art and Life in the Burmese Diaspora

By Emily L. Hue

The clash between an exile community making art and the expectations of others

A groundbreaking exploration of how diasporic Burmese artists navigate the intricate intersections of art, politics, and humanitarianism, Performing Vulnerability delves into the complexities...

Art, Activism, and Sexual Violence

By Sally L. Kitch, Dawn R. Gilpin

Highlights the role of creative expression in exposing, preventing, and combatting sexual violence

Since 2017 the #MeToo movement has expanded cultural awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual assault and tacit support for rape culture in the...

Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales

Fossils of Washington State

By Elizabeth A. Nesbitt and David B. Williams

A guide to discovering the fascinating natural history beneath your feet

From trilobites near the Idaho border and primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau to giant bird tracks near Bellingham and curious bear-like beasts on the...

Feminista Frequencies

Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley

By Monica De La Torre

How Chicana and Chicano community radio strengthened a movement and transformed the airwaves

Beginning in the 1970s Chicana and Chicano organizers turned to community radio broadcasting to educate, entertain, and uplift Mexican American listeners across the...

Dancing Transnational Feminisms

Ananya Dance Theatre and the Art of Social Justice

By Ananya Chatterjea, Hui Niu Wilcox, Alessandra Lebea Williams, D. Soyini Madison

Reframes dance as an intersectional practice of community-building and just world-making

Through empowered movement that centers the lives, stories, and dreams of marginalized women, Ananya Dance Theatre has revealed how the practice of and commitment to...

Emerald Street

A History of Hip Hop in Seattle

By Daudi Abe. Foreword by Sir Mix-A-Lot

The first history of Seattle hip hop—and hip hop’s role in Seattle history

From the first rap battles in Seattle’s Central District to the Grammy stage, hip hop has shaped urban life and the music scene...

Sailor Song

The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas

By Gerry Smyth. Illustrated by Jonny Hannah

Passed down in the oral tradition and sung as working songs, sea shanties tell the compelling human stories of life on the water: hard labor, battling the elements, pining for distant loves and far-away homes....

American Sabor

Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music / Latinos y latinas en la musica popular estadounidense

By Marisol Berríos-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallán. Translated by Angie Berríos Miranda

Evoking the pleasures of music as well as food, the word sabor signifies a rich essence that makes our mouths water or makes our bodies want to move. American Sabor traces the substantial musical contributions...

Onnagata

A Labyrinth of Gendering in Kabuki Theater

By Maki Isaka

Kabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its...

Classical Seattle

Maestros, Impresarios, Virtuosi, and Other Music Makers

By Melinda Bargreen

The past 50 years have seen a tremendous arts boom in Seattle, which has given the city not only internationally recognized classical music institutions but also great performance halls to showcase their work and that...

Onnagata

A Labyrinth of Gendering in Kabuki Theater

By Maki Isaka

Kabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its...

Luk Thung

The Culture and Politics of Thailand's Most Popular Music

By James Leonard Mitchell

Since the 1960s, the hybrid popular music called luk thung has embodied the aspirations, frustrations, and sorrows of Thailand’s working class. Global scholarship, however, has been slow in examining this seminal genre. In this pioneering...

Theatre of Dreams, Theatre of Play

No and Kyogen in Japan

By Khanh Trinh, Monica Bethe, Eric C. Rath, J. Thomas Rimer, Mikio Takemoto

Dating from the 15th to early 20th century, 160 works from the rich material culture of Japanese no and kyogen theatre (nogaku)—

including masks and costumes as well as paintings, musical instruments and libretti—have been selected...

The Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings

By Agustin Gurza. With Jonathan Clark

The Strachwitz Frontera Collection is the largest repository of commercially produced Mexican and Mexican American vernacular recordings in existence. More than 40,000 recordings, all produced during the first half of the 20th century, have been...

Multiple Impressions

Contemporary Chinese Woodblock Prints

By Xiaobing Tang, Shang Hui, and Anne Farrer

Multiple Impressions examines works by 40 leading printmakers from contemporary China, highlighting the extraordinary innovations, in both technique and conception, which have transformed this long-established art form in recent years. It includes works by such...

The Latino Theatre Initiative / Center Theatre Group Papers, 1980-2005

By Chantal Rodriguez

Established in 1992 by Los Angeles's Center Theatre Group, the Latino Theatre Initiative sought to diversify audiences by diversifying theatrical programming. Until 2005, when it was suspended, the program resulted in the production of eleven...

Falling for You

Essays on Cinema and Performance

By Lesley Stern, George Kouvaros

How do we understand and respond to performance in cinema? How does the performing body move through cinematic space and according to cinematic temporalities? Focusing on the work of the actor, but not simply about...

The Illusion of Life II

More Essays on Animation

By Alan Cholodenko

The Illusion of Life II 2 continues and extends the pioneering work in the theory of animation begun in The Illusion of Life: Essays on Animation. It provides an abundance of understandings, approaches, correctives, and...

Mutant Media

Essays on Cinema, Video Art and New Media

By John Conomos

Mutant Media gathers together a selection of John Conomos’ essays across the years, tracking the trajectory of his cinephilia since the 1960s, his ongoing interests in film criticism and theory, as well as his deep...

The Tooth That Nibbles at the Soul

Essays on Music and Poetry

By Marshall Brown

The Tooth that Nibbles at the Soul brings together Marshall Brown’s new and previously published writings on literature and music. These essays engage questions that are central to the development of literature, music, and the...