PERFORMANCE STUDIES : the basics

__Performance Studies: The Basics__ offers an overview of the multiple, often overlapping definitions of performance, from performance art, performance as everyday life, and rituals, to the performative dimensions of identity, such as gender, race and sexuality. This book defines the interdisciplinary field of performance studies as it has evolved over the past four decades at the intersection of academic scholarship and artistic and activist practices. It discusses performance as an important means of communicating and of understanding the world, highlighting its intersections with critical theory and arguing for the importance of performance in the study of human behaviour and social practices. Complete with a helpful glossary and bibliography, as well as suggestions for further reading, this book is an ideal starting point for those studying performance studies as well as for general readers with an interest in the subject. Performance Studies: The Basics offers an overview of the multiple, often overlapping definitions of performance, from performance art, performance as everyday life, and rituals, to the performative dimensions of identity, such as gender, race and sexual Cover 1 Endorsement 2 Half Title 4 Series Information 5 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 1 What Is Performance? Framing Performance 15 Performance in Everyday Life 18 Rituals 19 Performativity 21 The Anti-Performance Prejudice 23 Not Only Bodies Perform 25 What Is Performance Studies? 28 Performance Ethnography and Practice 30 Why Performance? 31 Further Reading/Research 32 2 Performance Art 33 What Is Performance Art? 33 The Origins of Performance Art 35 Feminist Performance Art 38 Expanding the Boundaries of Performance Art 44 Extreme Body Performance 47 Performance Art and Capitalism 52 Further Reading/research 54 3 Performance and Performativity 56 Repetition and Re-Enactment 56 Liveness and Mediation 59 Spectatorship, Community, Participation 63 Performance, Performativity and the Performative 67 Performance Failure 72 Further Reading 74 4 Identity and Lived Experience 75 Performance, Representation and Visibility 75 Performance and Subjectivity 82 Performance and Lived Experience 87 Performance, Authenticity and Cultural Appropriation 91 Further Reading 95 5 Performance Activism 96 Performance as Activism 96 What Exactly Is Performance Activism? 98 A Brief (And Incomplete) History of Performance Activism 100 When Performance Activism Backfires 108 A Few Lessons in Performance Activism 111 Further Reading 114 6 Performance Research Methods 115 What Are Research Methods? 115 Archival Research and Performance Historiography 116 Close Readings 121 Performance Ethnography 124 Autoethnography 129 Oral History Performance 131 Performative Writing 134 Staging Performance 135 Further Reading/research 138 7 Performance Studies 139 The Birth of Performance Studies 139 Performance Studies Around the World 143 Performance and the Status Quo 147 Speculative Futures of Performance Studies 152 Why Performance Studies, Then? 155 Bibliography 162 Index 168 "Performance Studies: The Basics offers an overview of the multiple, often overlapping definitions of performance, from performance art, performance as everyday life, and ritual to the performative dimensions of identity, such as gender, race, and sexuality. This book defines the interdisciplinary field of Performance Studies as it has evolved in the past four decades at the intersection of academic scholarship and artistic and activist practices. It discusses performance as an important embodied form of knowledge production and transmission, highlighting its intersections with critical theory, and arguing for the importance of performance in the study of human behaviour and social practices. Complete with helpful a glossary, bibliography, and suggestions for future reading, this book is an ideal starting point for those studying Performance Studies as well as general readers with an interest in the subject"-- Provided by publisher