In times of climate catastrophe, refugee crises and Covid-19, the question of the responsibility that artists and scholars have is becoming increasingly urgent. What is the role of circus within society? How far does this form of art and entertainment correlate with historical and contemporary social interests? How does circus research position itself as a relevant field of research within academia in the 21st century? Those questions will be explored within the series Adventures in Circus Research–Facing a New Decade, curated by academic Dr. Franziska Trapp. By featuring circus researchers, we give them the space to explain the nature and significance of their research directly to the circus community and to highlight the practical impact of their research on the circus world and its relevance for society.

In the fifth article of the series, Léa de Truchis, Ph.D. at the University of Montpellier, provides insights into her research in which she analyses the self-presentation of circus artists in “feuilles de salle” (printed papers distributed before the shows with the main information), program booklets and production files she collected during her travels to French festivals. While analyzing the vocabulary used in these texts, Léa de Truchis discloses a softened circus discourse that is less interested in the representation of the superiority of mankind but rather concerned with the presentation of humanity. The idea of doing a Ph.D. about circus came up after hours of discussion with my sister. We were talking about shows we saw. Thereby, she was using her own vocabulary–the vocabulary of a  circus artist–and I was using mine–the expression...