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Document Details : Title: In Medias Res Subtitle: Restaging Euripides on the Global Stage Author(s): STRATFORD, James D. Journal: Pharos Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Date: 2009-2010 Pages: 137-150 DOI: 10.2143/PHA.17.1.2136897 Abstract : This paper examines the construction of the identity of the foreigner in Euripides’ Medea and the modern immigrant, refugee, or asylum-seeker. I argue that this identity is not static but in constant flux. The foreigner is the object of desire — of exotic and even erotic fantasy — at the same time as representing great danger both to the physical citizen body as well as to the body of culture itself. At the darker end of the spectrum, the constructions of the refugee become a great source of anxiety — they are ‘barbarian’: ‘cruel’, ‘deceitful’, and always ready to take advantage of the ‘good citizen’ to stage new acts of evil and to enact new spectacles of terror. When they are not plotting destruction they are victims — voiceless and powerless, powerless against even their own barbaric ways. In both Euripides’ text and in the modern political theatre, both constructions require control and are used to justify the enactment of regimes of power. Just as the refugee’s identity is constructed, so is that of authority and the state, often portraying themselves as defensive subjects, non-violent, and acting only to protect those within. The paper concludes noting the very real risks that these constructions carry by fuelling the volatile politics of race and breeding new generations of discontent. |
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