On Solidarity

This special issue critically examines the notion of solidarity from and within the field of performance. Solidarity as a concept is ethically vacuous and in need of a clear ethical and political agenda. This issue specifically addresses questions concerning the ways that solidarity is ‘performed’ and the kinds of contributions the field of performance can make in working towards social equality. Across the various contributions, the issue sketches out the ways that solidarity is practised in and through performance as a potential generative force for social change. In discussing situated practices within various socio-political contexts, it examines a variety of solidary formations and bindings, such as within racial and religious minority groups, as well as solidarity existing across difference. It offers discussions of the ways solidarity is performed in colonial contexts, in post-disaster relief work, as well as in local activist groups.