PMA 4835 - [Ritual, Play, Spectacle, Act: Performing Culture]

(LA-AS)

4 credits.

Next offered 2013-2014. Co-meets with PMA 6835.

S. Warner.

Takes a broad-spectrum approach to performance. Includes anthropological texts on ritual and play, sociological texts on performances in everyday life, literary studies texts on “performatives” in speech and writing, folklore studies on parades and reenactments, psychological and philosophical studies on the role of performance in the formation of identity, and standard texts of the theatre. Considers the distinctions between play, ritual, spectacle, festival, theatre, and the visual arts. Explores the differences between being a spectator and witnessing and examines studies on audience behavior. At the base of the inquiry is the broad issue of the role of representational practices within culture and among cultures. If, as Barbara Meyerhoff has written, we understand ourselves by showing ourselves to ourselves, what role does “showing” have to construction of the selves we seek to understand? Why is postmodern culture often called the “society of the spectacle” (Debord)? If, as Aristotle claimed, we are mimetic creatures at base, which comes first—representation or reality? Looking closely at the notion of “live” art, students weigh theorists who claim that performance is ephemeral and disappearing against those who claim that performance, such as oral history, is resilient and enduring. Students have the opportunity to do fieldwork, create performative works, and engage in scholarly study. (HTC)