World Humanities and Cultures 425

PERFORMANCE STUDIES

Fall 2005

Dr. Phillip McArthur

Office: McKay 108B, Phone: 293-3907

 

 

Course Objectives:

            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 (e.g. 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 and 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.

 

Outcomes:

1.      Become a critical reader and thinker.

2.      Achieve capacity to synthesize and integrate knowledge with experience.

3.      Communicate effectively and persuasively in speaking and writing.

4.      Develop a depth of intellectual and experiential understanding of the place of performance in culture, society, and individual lives.

 

Texts:

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

2.      Richard Schechner,  Performance Studies: An Introduction*

3.      Blackboard Articles

 

 

*On pages 12 and 138 there are some questionable images that I give you the right to avoid.  By making this disclaimer I realize that I have tempted you to go directly to those very pages before you read anything else.  But I have warned you nonetheless, and leave you to your agency to make your own informed choice.

 

 

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 develop bibliographic initiative and seek understanding based on internal motivations.

 

2.      Short 2-4 page Precise(s):  For each of our general sections (see reading list) you will write about a performance you observe or in which you participate.  You will share your understandings and insights drawing upon and integrating principles you have read or we have discussed in class (five total).

 

 

3.      In Class Presentations:  I have allotted a great amount of time for experimenting with group activities and performances.  This is not one of those courses where 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 and your learning experience.  Some of these performances may require you to go beyond your “comfort zone” and find things in yourself you never expected.  We will need to trust each other—trust each other to perform without ridicule, and to explore possibilities without jeopardizing university standards.

 

4.       Final Exam:  A single essay that will review what you have learned (during examination time).

 

Reading List

 

 

Foundations in Performance Studies

Schechner                   CHAPTER TWO, “What is Performance?”

Bauman                       A. Briggs, “Culture”; R. Bauman, “Performance”

 

Folklore and Verbal Performances

Bauman                       R. Bauman, “Folklore”; J. Goody, “Oral Culture”; D. Ben-Amos, “Folktale”; R. Finnegan, “Oral Poetry”; Hansan-Rokem, “Proverb”; T.Green, “Riddle” A. Duranti, “Oratory”

B. Stoeltje/Bauman      “The Semiotics of Folkloric Performance”

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

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

 

Play Performances

Schechner                   CHAPTER FOUR, “Play”

Bauman                       M. Apte, “Humor”; J. McDowell, “Speech Play”; R. Abrahams, “Insult”;

                                    D. Brenneis, “Gossip”

 

Ritual and Festival Performances

Schechner                   CHAPTER THREE, “Ritual”

Bauman                       R. Rappaport, “Ritual”

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

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

Bauman                       B. Stoeltje, “Festival”

B. Stoeltje/Bauman      “Community Festival and the Enactment of Modernity”

 

Theater, Music, Dance and Performativity

Schechner                   CHAPTER SIX, “Performing”

Bauman                       R. Schechner, “Drama Performances”; G. Behague,”Music Performance”; A. Royce, “Mime”; A. Kaeppler, “Dance”, E. Tonkin, “Mask”

V. Turner                    “Acting in Everyday Life and Everyday Life in Acting”

Schechner                   CHAPTER FIVE, “Performativity”

 

Spectacle and Tourist Performances

Schechner                   CHAPTER EIGHT, “Global and Intercultural Performance”

Bauman                       F. Manning, “Spectacle”

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

Bauman                       B. Kirshenblatt-Gimbleet & E. Bruner, “Tourism”

D. MacCannell             “Staged Authenticity”

 

 

ICS Outcomes

  1. ICS graduates will possess a high degree of cultural literacy (history, philosophy, culture) in at least two world areas.
  2. ICS graduates should be able to effectively manage cultural differences and conflicts, and be prepared to develop solutions to real world problems.
  3. ICS graduates should be able to think critically.
  4. ICS graduates should be able to articulate and sustain their views through verbal and written discourse.
  5. ICS graduates will enter graduate school or find employment within one year of graduation.

 

 

 

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

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