Cultural Transfers





















Why concepts of “cultural transfer”?
How to conceptualise history in times of
….globalisation
….intercultural connection
….expansion of social media and networks
….migration, expatriation
The Cultural Transfer Approach was based on a critique of traditional and established concepts
concerning the field of “cultural relations”, “cultural exchanges”, “cultural mobility” and
orthodox conceptions of “influence”.

Stephen Greenblat: A mobility manifesto (2009)
First, mobility must be taken in a highly literal sense. Boarding a plane, venturing on a ship,
climbing onto the back of a wagon, crowding into a coach, mounting on horseback, or simply setting
one foot in front of the other and walking: these are indispensable keys to understanding the fate
of cultures.
Second, mobility studies should shed light on hidden as well as conspicuous movements of peoples,
objects, images, texts, and ideas.
Third, mobility studies should identify and analyze the “contact zones” where cultural goods are
exchanged. Different societies constitute these zones differently, and their varied structures call
forth a range of responses from wonder and delight to avidity and fear.

Stephen Greenblat: A mobility manifesto (2009)
Fourth, mobility studies should account in new ways for the tension between individual agency and
structural constraint. This tension cannot be resolved in any abstract theoretical way, for in
given historical circumstances structures of power seek to mobilize some individuals and immobilize
others.
Fifth, mobility studies should analyze the sensation of rootedness. The paradox here is only
apparent: it is impossible to understand mobility without also understanding the glacial weight of
what appears bounded and static. Mobility often is perceived as a threat – a force by which
traditions, rituals, expressions, beliefs are decentered, thinned out, decontextualized, lost. In
response to this perceived threat, many groups and individuals have attempted to wall themselves
off from the world or, alternatively, they have resorted to violence.

Main concepts (or perspectives)
translation always means shifting not only between two languages, but also between two cultures
Peter Burke
 dekontextualisation - rekontextualisation domestication.
Walter Moser
extraction - displacement - insertion
Culture is conceptualised as heterogeneous, hybrid, open to change and transformation.
contact zone
agents and agency
networks

























Broadcasted annually on the national public service television channel NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting)
on Christmas Eve at 11 a.m.
Three nuts for Cinderella has since 1990 (with one exception) been televised on NRK at 11 a.m. each
Christmas Eve
In 2014, every 1 in 7 Norwegian sat down and watched this film at 11 a.m. on Christmas Eve – a
number that reveals that it is not only children or teenagers who watches this film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbwYAG5tPF4
Blu-ray dubbing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6snuqWcLQQ
Knut Risan; popular „voice“ in broadcasted tales for children
Nordic tenors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgG0treb9Tg
Christmas concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leX2FVUhfus




Cultural history of theatre I.-VI.
concept of series - in every period the same issues are explored: institution - social function -
sexuality and gender - circulation and mobility - repertoire - technologies - knowledge
transmission
sample of 19th century
-“first” globalisaton
-rise of theatre brokers and agent
-challenging nation state
how to apply the perspective to Central European theatre culture….?

Further reading
Steen Bille Jørgensen, Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (eds).
Cultural transfers reconsidered, 2021 - especially introduction!
Stephen Greenblat. Cultural mobility: A Manifesto
the book includes complete Greenblat’s manifesto and also a chapter on theatre ;)