Course Description

This course introduces the anthropology of performance. The anthropology of performance is a branch of anthropology that emerged in the 1970s at the intersection of folklore studies, the ethnography of speaking and performance studies. Central to the anthropology of performance is its emphasis on process and action as opposed to symbolic content and textual analysis. Through cross-cultural examples, we will learn how performance can be used as a frame with which to analyze society. We will study a number of ethnographic examples of trance, music, and theater in order to understand first, how the everyday practice of life is a kind of performance and, second, ways in which communities put themselves on display publicly. We will also consider how cultural performances reinforce certain societal values and how they may be used to change the socio-political reality.

Key issues in the study of performance that run through the course concern the role of aesthetics, belief, and audience. Questions to be explored include: What are the cultural conditions of aesthetic experience and what role do aesthetics play in the successful performance of ritual? What is the relationship between aesthetics and belief? What is the relationship between religious or spiritual belief and mastery of a performance style? What or who makes up the audience of a ritual? What happens to a ritual if it is “performed” for a theatrical audience?