W, 9:05 AM-11:35 AM, Location: TBA

Meets with FOLK-F 750
Open to Graduates Only!

The course will be co-taught by the following instructors:

Instructor: Susan Seizer	
E-Mail: sseizer@indiana.edu
Office: Mottier Hall 150
Phone: 856-1986

Instructor: Richard Bauman
E-Mail: bauman@indiana.edu
Office: Mottier Hall 210
Phone: 855-0395

This course is an introduction to performance-oriented perspectives
on the study of social life. We will begin with a historical
consideration of the epistemology of performance in Western thought,
and then proceed to an extended examination of the two principal
senses of performance: performance as a special, artful mode of
communication and performance as a class of display events. Three
problems will be the focus of special attention in our
deliberations: (1) the relationship between these two orders of
performance; (2) the continuities and discontinuities between
performance and other dimensions of communicative practice in social
life; and (3) the relationship between convention and creativity in
performance. We will balance our attention between the exploration
of theoretical and analytical perspectives on the one hand and case-
study examination of specific performance forms on the other.


Textbooks:

Bauman, Richard. 1977. Verbal Art as Performance. Prospect Heights,
IL: Waveland Press.

Turner, Victor. 1982. From Ritual to Theatre. New York: PAJ
Publications.

Collection of readings on e-reserve.