Meets with CMCL C502 & PRST P601.  Folklore enrollment limited to 7.  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.

Bauman, Richard. 1977. Verbal Art as Performance. Prospect Heights, IL:
Waveland  Press.
Sawyer, R. Keith, ed. 1997. Creativity in Performance. Greenwich, CT: Ablex.
Turner, Victor. 1986. The Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ
Publications.
Winn, James Anderson. 1998. The Pale of Words: Reflections on the Humanities
and Performance. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Anthology of readings, available at TIS.

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.