@article{ART003345821},
author={정산희},
title={Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds},
journal={Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University},
issn={1598-3021},
year={2026},
volume={83},
number={2},
pages={115-139}
TY - JOUR
AU - 정산희
TI - Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds
JO - Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
PY - 2026
VL - 83
IS - 2
PB - Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
SP - 115
EP - 139
SN - 1598-3021
AB - This paper examines the street theatre productions The Walk and The Herds from the perspective of New Materialism. These large-scale public art projects feature puppets representing a refugee child and displaced wild animals traversing thousands of kilometers across cities and national borders. Both works transcend the confined space of the traditional theatre, expanding into events through the dynamic interactions between human and nonhuman entities. By adopting Jane Bennett’s concept of assemblage as a theoretical framework, this study reconceptualizes the puppet not as a passive medium conveying human intent, but as an actant endowed with its own vitality.
The paper analyzes the puppet-puppeteer relationship as an entanglement of interacting actants rather than a hierarchical subject-object structure. It demonstrates how the materials and structural compositions of the puppets possess “thing-power,” actively participating in the production of meaning in performance. Furthermore, by focusing on the format of mobile street theatre, the study explores how variable actants ― such as sites, audiences, and environmental conditions encountered during the cross-border journey ― intervene in and reconfigure the puppet-puppeteer assemblage, allowing new meanings to emerge. On this basis, the paper identifies the ontological, political, and ethical significance of puppets within these works.
Ultimately, this discussion asserts that puppetry is not merely a representational strategy rather, the agency of matter contributes to the production of meaning. By reconfiguring excluded and marginalized beings ― such as refugees and nonhuman animals ― these performances operate as performative practices that disrupt existing social hierarchies.
Consequently, this study confirms that new materialist perspective is an effective framework for puppet theatre research, proposing a new aesthetic that redefines the relationship between human and nonhuman actants.
KW - Puppet;New Materialism;Assemblage;Agency;Street Theatre; Jane Bennett;Refugee Crisis;Climate Crisis
DO -
UR -
ER -
정산희. (2026). Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(2), 115-139.
정산희. 2026, "Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds", Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, vol.83, no.2 pp.115-139.
정산희 "Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83.2 pp.115-139 (2026) : 115.
정산희. Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds. 2026; 83(2), 115-139.
정산희. "Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.2 (2026) : 115-139.
정산희. Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(2), 115-139.
정산희. Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University. 2026; 83(2) 115-139.
정산희. Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds. 2026; 83(2), 115-139.
정산희. "Puppet Agency and Expanded Assemblage in The Walk and The Herds" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.2 (2026) : 115-139.
