In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Looking at/for Disappearing John Brown
• Ben Spatz (bio), SAJ (bio), Eero Laine (bio), Michelle Liu Carriger (bio), and Henry Bial (bio)

Click for larger view
View full resolution Figure 1.

John Brown BBQ in Queens, New York City, https://www.johnbrownbbq.net.

(Photo: Eero Laine.)

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Brown (1800-59) riveted the United States and earned himself an execution with his radical abolitionist tactics encompassing murder and armed insurrection against the United States at Harpers Ferry (present-day West Virginia). Today, his extreme measures ensure his continued circulation across a variety of images and through various investments in his legacy and history. We began thinking together about John Brown precisely because of the promise of collaboration for considering the multifaceted figure that is performed and reperformed on murals and buttons, in sports arenas and bars, on television and in film. The work of abolition is collective and shared, and the political possibilities of the university add up to very little if they remain solitary endeavors. John Brown impels us to gather, to think and work together. Perhaps any one of us alone could have written our article, "The Unbearable Whiteness of John Brown: Theatrical Legacies and Performing Abolition," [End Page E-37] in Theatre Journal's special issue on "Abolition and Performance." But maybe we would not have done so without the others. This is a coalitional approach to political and abolitionist work in the academy. The reading group as a form has a long political history, and in some ways, our collaboration is not so different. From the beginning, however, our work was oriented toward research inquiries and the potential to then share that research with a yet larger circle. It was an opportunity not just to have a few conversations about John Brown, but to make something (an article) about John Brown.

The project began with a semi-open call posted to Facebook. The post was visible only to some, but it encouraged viewers to forward the call to friends and colleagues who might be interested in working toward an article-length piece of writing on John Brown. Many commented on the post, and the current authors were those who indicated their interest in working together. Once the five of us were all on the same email thread (albeit spaced as far east to west on the planet as northern England to California), we met via Zoom and began by discussing our interest in John Brown as a political, historical, and theatrical figure. Our initial interests were varied, and the wide-ranging examples we found of Brown were key to thinking through the article in terms of the multitude of possible John Browns and his persistent performance—of abolition, of whiteness, of masculinity, of Kansas exceptionalism, of other histories and potential futures. We began by adding individual contributions to a shared document. Over the course of various meetings, this work was edited and remixed and rewritten and expanded on toward a shared and cohesive whole. In particular, there was a moment when we moved from sharing and accumulating to pausing, reflecting, and deciding on a shape. We also would share our John Brown sightings from advertisements to businesses and products named after Brown to costumes and art.

Click for larger view
View full resolution Figure 2.

Logo for a brown ale produced by Free State Brewing in Lawrence, KS. Courtesy of Free State Brewing Company.

[End Page E-38]

Although the article and this online introduction are written from the collective standpoint of "we," in the remainder, we've atomized ourselves back into our individualities to converse briefly about the processes and ramifications of collective reading, thinking, and writing and to share some of our favorite images of John Browniana.

What drew you to (co)writing about John Brown in the first place?

Michelle Liu Carriger (mlc):

I would never have thought to tackle John Brown on my own, but for me, a native Kansan, John Brown has been a perennially recurring figure, due to his notorious murders carried out against proslavery settlers in the years before his Harpers Ferry insurrection and probably even more due to the famous John Steuart Curry mural...

中文翻译：

---

看着/寻找消失的约翰·布朗


以下是内容的简短摘录，而不是摘要：

• 
  看着/寻找消失的约翰·布朗
• 
  Ben Spatz （生物）、SAJ （生物）、Eero Laine （生物）、Michelle Liu Carriger （生物） 和 Henry Bial （生物）

 单击获得较大视图

查看全分辨率图 1.

John Brown BBQ 在 https://www.johnbrownbbq.net 纽约市皇后区。

 （照片：Eero Laine。

19 世纪中叶，约翰·布朗（John Brown，1800-59 年）吸引了美国，并以其激进的废奴主义策略赢得了处决，其中包括在哈珀斯渡口（今西弗吉尼亚州）谋杀和武装起义反对美国。今天，他的极端措施确保了他通过各种图像以及对他的遗产和历史的各种投资继续传播。我们开始一起思考约翰·布朗，正是因为合作的承诺，即考虑在壁画和纽扣、体育场馆和酒吧、电视和电影中表演和重演的多面人物。废除死刑的工作是集体的和共享的，如果它们仍然是单独的努力，那么大学的政治可能性加起来就非常小。约翰·布朗 （John Brown） 促使我们聚集在一起，一起思考和工作。也许我们中的任何一个人都可以在《戏剧杂志》的“废除与表演”特刊上写下我们的文章，“约翰·布朗无法忍受的白人：戏剧遗产和表演废除”[结束第 E-37 页]。但如果没有其他人，也许我们就不会这样做。这是学术界对政治和废奴主义工作的联合方法。读书会作为一种形式有着悠久的政治历史，在某些方面，我们的合作并没有太大的不同。然而，从一开始，我们的工作就以研究调查为导向，并有可能随后与更大的圈子分享这些研究。这是一个机会，不仅可以进行一些关于 John Brown 的对话，还可以制作一些关于 John Brown 的文章。

该项目始于在 Facebook 上发布的半公开电话会议。该帖子仅对某些人可见，但它鼓励观众将电话转发给可能有兴趣撰写一篇关于 John Brown 的文章的朋友和同事。许多人对这篇文章发表了评论，目前的作者是那些表示有兴趣合作的人。当我们五个人都在同一个电子邮件线程上（尽管在地球上从东到西，从英格兰北部到加利福尼亚）时，我们通过 Zoom 会面，首先讨论了我们对约翰·布朗作为政治、历史和戏剧人物的兴趣。我们最初的兴趣是多种多样的，我们发现的布朗的广泛例子是思考这篇文章的关键，即约翰·布朗的众多可能性和他坚持不懈的表现——废除奴隶制、白人、男子气概、堪萨斯例外主义、其他历史和潜在未来。我们首先将个人贡献添加到共享文档。在各种会议的过程中，这项工作被编辑、重新混合、重写和扩展，以形成一个共享的、有凝聚力的整体。特别是，有那么一刻，我们从分享和积累转变为暂停、反思和决定一个形状。我们还将分享我们对 John Brown 的目击，从广告到企业，从以 Brown 命名的产品到服装和艺术。

 单击获得较大视图

查看全分辨率图 2.

堪萨斯州劳伦斯的 Free State Brewing 生产的棕色艾尔啤酒的标志。由 Free State Brewing Company 友情提供。

 [完第 E-38 页]

虽然这篇文章和这个在线介绍是从“我们”的集体立场写的，但在其余部分，我们已经将自己原子化回我们的个体中，简要地谈论了集体阅读、思考和写作的过程和影响，并分享了我们最喜欢的一些约翰·布朗尼亚娜的照片。

最初是什么吸引你（共同）写关于约翰·布朗的文章？

Michelle Liu Carriger （mlc）：

我从来没有想过要独自对付约翰·布朗，但对我来说，作为一个土生土长的堪萨斯人，约翰·布朗一直是一个常年出现的人物，因为他在哈珀斯费里起义之前的几年里对奴隶制定居者进行了臭名昭著的谋杀，可能更多的是由于著名的约翰·斯图尔特·库里壁画......