DHUM 25A26 - Introduction to Performance Studies: Performing Public Space
This course introduces students to the concept of performance, including civic performances (daily interactions, speech acts, grassroot movements…) and artistic performances (theatre, dance, music…), and invites them to study how different performances constitute public spaces. In providing insight into various performances, performance theory, political theory and art science, the course appeals to students who are interested in developing analytical and methodological tools necessary for the study of the public significance of performance. Through a combination of lectures, close reading of texts, video projections and assignments, the students will discuss selected performances both individually and in group. Reflective discussions will maximize student input and participation. Students will learn to assess how performances are constructed, how they shape public spaces, and how they produce political effects.
Goran PETROVIC
Séminaire
English
The course begins with an introduction to the fundamental principles of Performance Studies (PS), thus, no prior knowledge of PS as an independent academic discipline is necessary.
Proficiency in the English language is required.
Autumn 2023-2024
1. Class attendance and participation in class discussion: 10%
2. Assigned group presentation (20 min max): 30%
2. Assigned debate (3 questions max): 10%
3. Final paper (5 pages max): 50%
Richard Schechner, Performance Studies (London & New York: Routledge, 2013), 1-27.
John R. Parkinson, Democracy and Public Space. The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 49-70.
Shirin Rai, Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament, in The Grammar of Politics and Performance, edited by Janelle Reinelt and Shirin Rai (London: Routledge, 2014), 148-161.
Alina Mozolevska, Performing the People: Discourses and Performances of Pablo Iglesias and Volodymyr Zelensky, in Petrović Lotina, Goran & Théo Aiolfi (eds.), Performing Left Populism (London: Bloomsbury, 2023).
Oliver Marchart, Dancing Politics. Political Reflections on Choreography, Dance and Protest, in Gerarld Siegmund and Stefan Holscher (eds.), Dance, Politics and Co-Immunity (Zurich, Berlin: Diaphanes 2013), 39-57.