A bold new framework for global theatre rooted in local philosophies and connected through a heteroglobal vision.
Theatre, Globalization and the Heteroglobal Method offers a groundbreaking framework for rethinking global theatre studies. Drawing on philosophy and scholarship from major theatre traditions—South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, and Nigeria—the volume reimagines how performance circulates and transforms in a global context.
Challenging the dominance of Eurocentric models in postcolonial studies, comparative literature, and world theatre, the book introduces the ""heteroglobal"" method: an adaptable, equitable approach that begins with local theoretical and philosophical frameworks before bringing them into dialogue. These imagined centers, each with its own rich discursive heritage, become sites of knowledge exchange where fresh understandings of art and globalization emerge.
Through a theoretically pluralistic matrix of comparison and interculturalism, Theatre, Globalization and the Heteroglobal Method documents contemporary scholarly and artistic practices across diverse cultural landscapes, offering a new model for teaching, research, and performance in an interconnected world.
By:
Glenn Odom
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 244mm,
Width: 170mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 616g
ISBN: 9781835952351
ISBN 10: 1835952356
Pages: 258
Publication Date: 19 March 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
1 Undefining Heteroglobalization and Theoretical Pluralism Field Overviews 2 National, Global, Local, Planetary, Circulating, Transnational: Overview of Comparative Studies as Practiced in the United States and the United Kingdom 3 Interculturalism, Universality and Resistance: Debates over Intercultural Theatre in the West 4 Indexing: Finding the Japaneseness in Dialectics of Difference Without Distinction 5 Fidelity and Revolution: Modern Japanese Theatre 6 Harmonious Juxtaposition: South African Theories of Foldedness 7 South African Theatre Sans Adjective 8 Nativism, “Tigritude” and Syncretism: Nigerian Theories of and Against Hybridity 9 The Numinous, the Quotidian and Political Resistance: Nigerian Theatre and the World Stage 10 Sinocentric, Positional-Relationality: Chinese Theories of the World 11 The Popular, the People and the Political: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Theatre Interlude 12 Waiting for the Heteroglobal, a Partial Definition in Juxtaposition in Magnet Theatre’s I Turned Away and She Was Gone Philosophical and Theoretical Milieu(s) Semiotics 13 Indexicality, Reality, Nation: Philosophies of Language in Japan 14 Process and Community: South African Semiotics Modernity 15 Japanese Modernity as Fractured and Whole 16 National, Modern, Politically Real: The Divisive Core of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Chinese Theatre Subjectivity, the Self and the Actor 17 Conceptions of the Self: Hybrid Acting in Nigeria 18 Marxism, Intension and the Politics of the Group: Acting the Subject in China A Festival 19 Heteroglobal Methods: A ManiFestival of Theatre and Performance
Glenn Odom is a UK-based independent scholar. His research explores intercultural theatre, global performance theory, and alternative education models. His books, World Theories of Theatre (Routledge 2017) and Yoruba Performance, Theatre, and Politics: Staging Resistance (2015), and his articles in Asian Theatre Journal, Comparative Drama, TDR, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and Comparative Literature explore theories and practices of theatre and performance across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Odom received his BA and MEd from Vanderbilt University and his MA and PhD from University California, Irvine.
