Meets with CMCL C502 and PRST P601. 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 sense 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.
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 and the IU Bookstore.
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.