Topic: Performance in Communication - joint-listed with FOLK F750 and
PRST P601

This course is an introduction to performance-oriented perspectives on
communication and culture. 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, artistic 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 relationships between the two
orders of performance, (2) the continuities and discontinuities between
these two orders of performance and other dimensions of communicative
practice in social life, and (3) the relationship between
conventionalization 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

Sawyer, R. Keith, ed. 1997. Creativity in Performance. Greenwich, Ct:
Ablex Publications.

Winn, James Anderson. 1998. The Pale of Words: Reflections on the
Humanities Anthology of Readings, available at TIS.

Written work:
A seminar paper of ca. 25 pp. in length, to be developed through briefer
written statements and seminar presentations over the course of the
semester.