Julie Burelle

Biography

Julie Burelle (she/her/elle) is associate professor of Performance Studies in the Department of Theatre + Dance at UC San Diego. Originally from Quebec, Canada, Julie has studied and taught theatre on both coasts of Canada and the United States. Julie's research is invested in a decolonizing project and is in conversation with the fields of Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, and Indigenous studies among others. Her first book, Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Québec (Northwestern UP 2019) focuses on how questions of Indigenous sovereignty, cultural identity, and nationhood are negotiated through performances in the particular context of Quebec, a province whose national aspirations have often occupied center stage. Her book won the American Theatre and Drama Society's John W. Frick Book Award as well as the Canadian Association for Theatre Research's Ann Saddlemyer Book Award (ex aequo with Helene Vosters) and was short-listed by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education for its Outstanding Book Award. She is the co-author with artists Yves Sioui Durand (Huron Wendat) and Catherine Joncas as well as sociologist Jean-François Côté of Xajoj Tun. Le Rabinal Achi d’Ondinnok. Réflexions, entretiens, analyses (PUL 2021). The book was awarded two special mentions by the Prix Jean-Cléo Godin committee of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research. Julie’s research also can be found in TheatreForum, TDR:The Drama Review, Theatre Annual, Dance Research Journal, Revue Liberté as well as in various edited volumes.

Julie is on the editorial board of the journals Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada and of Percées: explorations en arts vivants

As a practitioner, Julie works in collaborative settings and has served as a dramaturg for Sledgehammer Theatre, Native Voices at the Autry, The Trip, Allyson Green/ La Jolla Symphony, Sam Mitchell, and many others. 

Julie is the recipient of the 2017 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Distinguished Teaching Award at UCSD -- honoring her DEI teaching, cultural advocacy, and public service efforts -- and the 2018 Hellman Fellowship to pursue her research on Indigenous theatre and dance in Québec, Canada.

Education

Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

Research Areas

Native American and First Nations Theatre

Office

Galbraith Hall 305

Office Hours

Tues. 1:30pm - 3:30pm