Jointly organised by SCENARIO & FILA (Faculty of International Liberal Arts at Soka University, Tokyo)

CONFERENCE DATES: March 24-27, 2027 – DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: June 30, 2026

Please see the CALL for PAPERS below.

Further details, including information on keynote speakers, conference fee, travel, accommodation,
will be made available in the weeks/months to come.

CALL FOR PAPERS 

Culture-specific arts practices
as inspiration for performative teaching, learning and research

Since 2007, various international conferences, symposia and colloquia have been organised as part of the SCENARIO project. To date, these have taken place in Ireland, Germany and the USA.  

Such events have always focused on promoting cultural encounters and intensive exchange on the theory and practice of drama (in) education and theatre (in) education. As these disciplines are closely linked to educational practice in English-speaking and German-speaking (regional) contexts, it is not surprising that colleagues from these contexts in particular have participated in this exchange.    

We have already taken some steps towards opening up to other languages and cultures, by including additional working languages and launching the Scenario Correspondents Initiative. In this sense, we see the conference in Tokyo as a logical consequence.  

In our view, the term performative plays a key role, not least because it is established in various academic fields and, in our context, makes it possible to summarise various approaches to language teaching, learning and research inspired by the performative arts:  

• describing forms of language teaching and learning that can be derived from various performative arts (e.g. theatre, dance, music, film, dance)  
• to emphasise the embodied dimension of language teaching and learning in particular
• to focus our attention, beyond drama (in) education and theatre (in) education concepts, on teaching and educational practices that are already being applied/developed in various parts of the world, inspired by the respective culture-specific arts traditions. 

With the 2027 conference, which will be jointly organised by SCENARIO & SOKA University in Tokyo, we would like to broaden our (language) perspective and offer opportunities for cross-cultural exchange.  We are therefore particularly interested in empirical and theoretical presentations as well as reflective project contributions that  

• reflect on performative approaches to language, literature and culture 
• address performative approaches in everyday educational practice in various cultural contexts, especially those in the Asia-Pacific region 
• focus on the associated arts traditions
• report on existing international collaborations and projects in the region 

However, we would also welcome contributions that focus on other aspects of performative teaching, learning and research, as well as proposals for (short) performance pieces.  

We hope that this conference will provide impetus for new forms of cross-cultural cooperation in the context of performative teaching, learning and research. While Scenario continues to focus especially on language, literature and culture education, we also welcome perspectives from related (aesthetic) fields/subjects.

English and Japanese are the official conference languages. Whether there will be sections in other languages will depend on the number of contributions and administrative circumstances. We therefore ask that you indicate all languages in which you can present to an international audience when submitting your contribution.  

We ask you to submit an abstract (max. 250 words) and a biography in English. The short biography (max. 150 words) should be designed to give conference participants an idea of the theoretical discourses and/or the practitioners that have influenced your vision of education. 

Please use the form you can access HERE to send your abstract and short biography by June 30th, 2026.

The conference website is currently under construction. In the weeks/months to come further information on registration, travel, accommodation etc. will be displayed at: https://www.ucc.ie/en/scenario/scenarioforum/conferences/scenarioforum-conference2027/

For general information on the SCENARIO PROJECT click here. Should you have any questions you can contact us at any time via email at: scenario@ucc.ie

We look forward to meeting familiar and also many new faces during SAKURA, the very beautiful cherry blossom season in Japan.

With best wishes from all in the SCENARIO & SOKA University Organisation Team