School of Arts

Tamar Meskin

Tamar Meskin

Lecturer

Cluster/DisciplineDrama

Emailmeskint@ukzn.ac.za

Contact Number031-260-1139

CampusHoward College Campus

Office AddressStudio 1 102

Degrees Held

  • BA Hons (Natal)
  • MFA (Acting) (UCLA)

Research Interests

  • Ms. Meskin’s primary interest is in all aspects of Theatre Studies, with a particular focus on directing, acting, and writing for stage and screen, as well as drama in/as education and methodology, and the processes of adaptation. She is also involved in several self-study of education initiatives. She is currently working on her PhD in Education, which is a narrative self-study of her own directing practice.

Professional Experience

  • 1981 Teaching Assistant, English Language Unit, University of Zimbabwe.
  • 1986 – 1989 Lecturer in English, University of Zimbabwe.
  • 1990 – 2004 Senior Lecturer in English, University of Zimbabwe.
  • 2004 – 2009 Associate Professor, University of Namibia.
  • 2005 – 2007 Head, Department of English, University of Namibia.
  • 2008 – 2009 Head, English Section, Department of Language and Literature Studies,University of Namibia.
  • 2009 – 2011 Professor & Academic Co-ordinator of English Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus, South Africa.
  • 2011 – 2012 Academic Leader: Languages and Literature Thematic Area, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus, South Africa.
  • 2013 – present Professor, English Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritz-burg Campus.
Selected

Publications

  • Meskin, T, Singh, L & van der Walt, T. 2014. Putting the Self in the Hot Seat: Enacting Reflexivity through Dramatic Strategies. Educational Research for Social Change. Forthcoming.
  • Meskin, T & van der Walt, T. 2014. The Director’s ‘I’: Theatre, self, and self-study. Perspectives in Education, Vol.32, Issue 2, (pp. 54-68).
  • Meskin, T. Shaggy. Book Review. South African Theatre Journal, DOI: 10.1080/10137548.2014.910946.
  • Coetzee, M, Meskin, T & van der Walt, T. 2014. Singing the Songs of Freedom: Exploring a Pedagogy for a Theatre of Humanity through the FrontLines project. In H Barnes & M Coetzee (Eds.), Applied Drama/Theatre as Social Intervention in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Meskin, T & van der Walt, T. 2014. ‘Public hearing of private griefs’: Investigating the Performance of History in Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission (1998) and John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth (2002). In Oliver Bray & Peter Bray (Eds.), Voicing Trauma and Truth: Narratives of Disruption and Transformation. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.
  • Meskin, T & van der Walt, T. 2011. Photography, archaeology and representation: chronicles of conflict and the architecture of action. South African Theatre Journal, Vol. 24, (pp. 127 – 156).
Selected

Conferences

Local

  • 2013: University Teaching and Learning Conference (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Bridge-building across the landscape of Higher Education: an exploration of the dynamics of collaborative learning projects’
  • 2012: Drama for Life Conference (University of Pretoria, Pretoria) 
    Co- presented paper with Marie-Heleen Coetzee and Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Singing the Songs of Freedom: FrontLines and the Theatre of Humanity’
  • 2012: 8th Triennial Conference of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa (Rhodes University, Grahamstown) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Staging the “Stranger”: Three plays about exile on the South African stage’
  • 2010: International Conference on Arts and Social Justice (Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘FrontLines: Cartographies in/of/as action’
  • 2008: Dramatic Learning Spaces Conference: Performing Identities (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Writing “whiteness”: Dramatic representations of Afrikaner white identity in post-apartheid South Africa – a comparative study of Athol Fugard’s Sorrows and Rejoicing (2002) and Jason Xenopolous’ Promised Land (2002)’
  • 2007: International Federation for Theatrical Research Conference (Stellenbosch, South Africa) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Cracking the Code(s): ‘Translating’ the ‘canon’ in South Africa – A case study of Twelfth Night
  • 2006: Dramatic Learning Spaces Conference: African Performance Practice – Research in Action (University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg) 
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Approaching Macbeth through representation, participation, and facilitation – a theatre-in-education ‘adventure’.’
  • 2000: South African Woman’s Arts Festival; Conference of Women in the Arts (The Natal Playhouse, Durban) 
    Invited to present paper entitled ‘Making the Leap of Faith: A ‘Girl’s’ Guide to Surviving Theatre in the New South Africa.’

International

  • 2013: International Federation for Theatre Research Conference (Barcelona, Spain
    Presented paper entitled ‘(Re)Rooting the Canon: Patchworks, Pathways and Palimpsests’
  • 2012: International Federation for Theatre Research: Mediating Performance-Scene, Media et Meditation (Santiago, Chile
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt and Marie-Heleen Coetzee entitled ‘Performing history/ies, speaking memory: Mediating the aesthetics of remembering in the FrontLines project’
  • 2011: Trauma:Theory and Practice – 1sty Global Conference (Prague, Czech Republic
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Public Hearing of Private Griefs : Investigating the performance of history, in Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission (1998) and John Kani’s Nothing But the Truth (2002)’
  • 2010: International Federation for Theatre Research: Cultures of Modernity (Munich, Germany
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘FrontLines: Traversing the Modern and the Post-modern through history and / in theatre’
  • 2010: International University Theatre Association Conference: Theatre and Pedagogy (De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘FrontLines: Cartographies in/of/as action’
  • 2009: International Conference on the Arts in Society (Venice, Italy
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Writing “whiteness”: Representing the Afrikaner in post-apartheid South Africa – a comparative study of Athol Fugard’s Sorrows and Rejoicing (2002) and Jason Xenopolous’ Promised Land(2002)’
  • 2009: African Theatre Association (AfTa) International Conference: New Directions in African Theatre and Performance(University of Northampton, United Kingdom
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘“Public hearing of private griefs”: Investigating the performance of history, in Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission (1998) and John Kani’s Nothing But the Truth (2002)’
  • 2009: African Theatre Association (AfTa) International Conference: New Directions in African Theatre and Performance(University of Northampton, United Kingdom
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt and Verne Rowin Munsamy entitled ‘Bringing Back the Bard: Dynamic Approaches to Shakespeare in Post-apartheid South Africa.’
  • 2009: International Federation of Theatre Research Conference: Silent Voices/Forbidden Lives (Lisbon, Portugal
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled entitled ‘“Public hearing of private griefs”: Investigating the performance of history, in Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission (1998) and John Kani’s Nothing But the Truth (2002)’
  • 2006: 5th Athens International Theatre/Drama & Performing Arts Education Conference: Creating New Roles for the 21sgt Century (Athens, Greece
    Co-presented paper with Tanya van der Walt entitled ‘Re-Imagining Macbeth – A TIE ‘Adventure’: Negotiating Shakespeare and learning in post-apartheid South Africa’