Dr Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal, BA (Goldsmiths), MA, PhD (Birkbeck)

Profile

My research focuses on performance and work, with a particular interest in questions of emotional labour, theatrical production and actor training. I completed my doctorate at Birkbeck, with the thesis ‘Serving the Self: authenticity, performance and emotional labour’, which used primary data gathered from British workplaces to expand and develop an understanding of the theatrical and performative influence in contemporary service and hospitality work.

Prior to joining Queen Mary I was an associate lecturer at Birkbeck, where I taught across Theatre, Liberal Arts and Management courses. As a playwright, I have worked with Old Vic New Voices and Kali Theatre and my work has been performed at the Old Red Lion, Brighton Fringe, RADA and VAULT festivals.

Research

Research Interests:

• Performance and work
• Histories of actor training
• Emotional labour
• Marxism and political economy
• British South Asian history and theatre

Recent and On-Going Research

My recent research is drawn from my doctoral study into emotional labour in contemporary work. This research builds upon the foundational definition of emotional labour offered by sociologist Arlie Hochschild, by understanding it as work which requires the performance of specific traits and characteristics before an audience (usually customers). Most recently I have published a chapter in the edited collection Feelings and Work in Modern History, with Bloomsbury’s History of Emotions series, which explores the application of Stanislavski and actor training within theorisations of emotional labour. I have also presented some of my empirical data into the coffee chain Pret A Manger, and discussed the antitheatricality inherent in their employment practices, in the journal Platform. I am currently working on developing my thesis into a book.

I am part of the Performance and Political Economy research group, which works to expand interdisciplinary research which connects theatre and performance to scholarship in other disciplines including business, work and employment. Collectively we have recently published ‘Marxist Keywords for Performance’ in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism. This project aims to provide accessible definitions of key Marxist terms for performance students and scholars, and encourage the use and application of Marxism within the fields of performance, theatre and dance.

I am also interested in the area of British South Asian theatre and history. I have written and given talks on British South Asian activism and community organisation, most recently for The New Arab. As a playwright I have worked with Kali Theatre and contributed to panels with Tamasha. I am currently working on research into a new wave of political South Asian theatre in Britain.

Publications

Chapters in Peer-Reviewed Books

• ‘The “System” of Service: Emotional labour and the theatrical metaphor’, in Feelings and Work in Modern History, ed. Agnes Arnold-Forster and Alison Moulds (London: Bloomsbury, 2022)

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

• ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2 (review)’, 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, 33 (August 2022)
• Blackwell-Pal et al, ‘Marxist Keywords for Performance’, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 36:1 (December 2021)
• “’Producing ‘The Joy of Pret’: Theatres of (Emotional) Labour in the Service Industry”, Platform, 14:1, (2020)

Other Publications

• ‘Blacklash: Lessons in South Asian Organising and Radicalism’, The New Arab (August 2022)
• ‘Kanye’s Dark Twisted Presidential Fantasy’, Jacobin (September 2020)
• ‘On The Line: An interview with Jamie Woodcock’, Jacobin (December 2017)

Public Engagement

I produce short informational videos on a range of work and labour related issues via my TikTok and Instagram accounts: MarxAndMakeUp.

 

 

Performance

The Poetry we Make

Produced by Flugelman Productions; 2017-2018: The Marlborough, Brighton (May 2017);

Rosemary Branch, London (June 2017); RADA Festival, London (July 2017); Old Red Lion,

London (July 2017); Library London (July 2017); VAULT Festival, London (February 2018)

 

Pebbles and Stones

Rehearsed reading at Tristan Bates Theatre; January 2016, as part of Kali Talkback