ICS 401B ‑PERFORMANCE STUDIES

Fall 2003

Dr. Phillip McArthur

Office: McKay 108B, Phone: 293-3907

Course: Performance studies encompass a broad range of action from aesthetic activity that is explicitly framed as performance (e.g. ritual, theater, dance) and also social and linguistic performativity (verbal arts, social life). In this course we will attend to several theories and practices of performance with emphasis on understanding culture, social life and experience, not as something super organic, or as “a given”, but as something constituted through performance, that is, the “doing” of culture and social life. We will also attend to the phenomenology, or meaningful experience of performance. Perhaps, this will take us to the center of meaning and experience itself. Special attention will be given to the study of actual performances in and outside of class. Because this is an advanced course while also being rather experimental, the syllabus is likely to change through the semester. Be open‑‑to let this course emerge and I will assign readings and activities depending on how well we are engaged in the learning experience.

Required Texts:

1. Richard Bauman, ed. Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments: A Communications‑Centered Handbook. CCH

2. Richard Bauman. Verbal Art as Performance. VAP

3. Victor Turner. From Ritual to Theater: The Human Seriousness of Play. FRT

4. Reading Articles: Selections found on CourseInfo server Blackboard BB

(http://courses.byu.edu)

Class Assignments:

1. Readings: You are expected to do all the readings I assign and come to class prepared to discuss them. Because I am prepared to flexibly let this class emerge (with some structure, however) I will announce the reading assignment the class period before it is due and under “announcements” on the Blackboard. I do not intend to give reading quizzes to advanced students. You should just want to read this stuff without punitive motivations. A serious student, one who takes responsibility for their own education, will also read the recommended pieces and develop bibliographic initiative.

2. Short 3‑5 page Precise(s) ‑‑ For each of our general sections (see reading list) you will conduct a short research project and write about you findings, understandings, and insights into different kinds of performances. At the conclusion of the unit I will assign the essay and its due date. (Total 4)

3. In Class Presentations ‑‑ I have allotted a great amount of time for you to present your research through group and individual activities. This is not one of those courses were you say to yourself, “Well, I will just skip today and pick up on notes later.” You cannot do this and perform well. Your active participation is essential to the success of the class (because it is your seminar not mine), and do I dare say, to your success as a “real” student of “quality”.

Foundations in Semiotics, Performance and Culture (2)

BB: J. Fiske, “Communication, Meaning, and Signs”.

CCH: A. Briggs, “Culture”; J. Goody, “Oral Culture”; S. Duncan, “Interaction: Face‑to‑Face”;

Bauman, “Performance”.

BB: B. Stoeltje & R. Bauman, “The Semiotics of Folkloric Performance”.

Folklore and Verbal Performances (4)

VAP: R. Bauman, Verbal Art as Performance, 3‑51.

CCH: R. Bauman, “Folklore”; D. Ben‑Amos, “Folktale”, R. Finnegan, “Oral Poetry”; G Hansan‑Rokem, “Proverb”; T. Green, “Riddle”; J. McDowell, “Speech Play”; R. Abrahams, “Insult”, D. Brenneis, “Gossip”; A. Duranti, “Oratory”.

BB: B. Toelken, “Oral Patterns of Performance: Story and Song” (Native America)

BB: W. Wilson, “On Being Human: The Folklore of Mormon Missionaries”.

Recommend: BB: R. Bauman & Charles Briggs, “Poetics and Performance as Critical Perspectives on Language

and Social Life”.

Ritual and Theater Performances (5)

CCH: R. Rappaport, “Ritual”.

BB: V. Turner, “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites of Passage”.

BB: M. Eliade, “Sacred Space and Making the World Sacred,” “Sacred Time and Myths”

BB: D. Kertzer, “The Power of Rites”.

CCH: R. Schechner, “Drama Performances”.

BB: R. Schechner, “Magnitudes of Performance”

FRT: V. Turner, “Social Dramas and Stories About Them”.

FRT: V. Turner, “Acting in Everyday Life and Everyday Life in Acting”.

Recommended: FRT: V. Turner, “Dramatic Ritual/Ritual Drama: Performative and Reflexive Anthropology”.

Festival and Spectacle Performances (4)

CCH: B. Stoeltje, “Festival”.

BB: B. Stoeltje & R. Bauman, “Community Festival and the Enactment of Modernity”.

FRT: V. Turner, “Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, Ritual: An Essay in Comparative Symbology”.

BB: A. Kaeppler, “Pacific Festival and Ethnic Identity”

CCH: F. Manning, “Spectacle”.

BB: F. Manning, “Cosmos and Chaos: Celebration in the Modern World”.

Recommended: BB. Stoeltje, “Power and the Ritual Genres: American Rodeo”.

Touristic Performances (2)

CCH: B. Kirshenblatt‑Gimblett and E. Bruner, “Tourism”.

BB: Dean MacCannell, “Staged Authenticity”.

BB: B. Kirshenblatt‑Gimblett, “Confusing Pleasures”.

Special Needs

Brigham Young University-Hawai'i is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere, which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the students with Special Need Coordinator, Leilani A'una at 293-3518. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875.

Preventing Sexual Harassment

Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds, including Federal loans and grants. Title IX also covers student-to-student sexual harassment. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875 (24 hours).