The Routledge Companion to the Anthropology of Performance (Routledge Companions)

The Routledge Companion to the Anthropology of Performance provides a cutting-edge, comprehensive overview of the foundations, epistemologies, methodologies, key topics and current debates, and future directions in the field. It brings together work from the disciplines of anthropology and performance studies, as well as adjacent fields. Across 31 chapters, a diverse range of international scholars cover topics including: Ritual Theater Storytelling Music Dance Textiles Land Acknowledgments Indigenous Identity Visual Arts Embodiment Cognition Healing Festivals Politics Activism The Law Race and Ethnicity Gender and Sexuality Class Religion, Spirituality, and Faith Disability Leisure, Gaming, and Sport In addition, the included Appendix offers tools, exercises, and activities designed by contributors as useful suggestions to readers, both within and beyond academic contexts, to take the insights of performance anthropology into their work. This is a valuable reference for scholars and upper-level students in anthropology, performance studies, and related disciplines, including religious studies, art, philosophy, history, political science, gender studies, and education. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Introduction: Performance as Anthropological Focus and Framework Histories, Theories, and Frameworks Performing as a Way of Knowing Performance and Identity Performance And/as Cultural Critique The Future of Performance Anthropology Additional Themes Conclusion Notes References Part I Histories, Theories, and Frameworks 1 Body and Mind: The Making of the Anthropology of Performance Early Approaches Embodiment, Sensory Experience, and Performer Performance and an Aesthetics of the Ordinary Identity, Mobility, the Body as a Site of Culture Enminded Embodiment: A Landscape of Being in the World Scholars and Institutions New Technologies and New Communities Choreographing Identities in Conversation: Embodiment as a Mode of Communication Katherine Dunham Alvin Ailey Carmen De Lavallade Thomas DeFrantz Bill T. Jones Julie Taylor and Marta Savigliano: Tango: Embodied Political Statement Yvonne Daniel Aimee Meredith Cox Some Conclusions: Bringing Together Body, Corporeal Intelligence, and Performance References 2 In the Spirit of Experience, Reflexivity, and Growth: Exploring the Ancestral Roots of Performance Anthropology The Anthropology of Vic and Edie Turner Reflexive and Experiential Dimensions to Performance Anthropology The Next Generation: The Turners and Performance Anthropology in Hindsight Ethnographic Performance in the Classroom Conclusion References 3 Performance and Aesthetics: Experiencing Expressive Events and Visual Arts The Emergence of Aesthetics Aesthetics in Anthropology “Art By Destination” Versus “Art By Metamorphosis” Art, Objects, Images, Design Ethnography, Collaboration, Practice Alternative Aesthetics and Peak Experiences Taking Stock and Looking Ahead Acknowledgments Note References 4 Ritual as Performance What Is Ritual? Ritual and Theater Design Features of Ritual 1 Absence of Paraphrase 2 Sensory Intensification/Embodiment 3 Agency Reversal 4 Condensation 5 Interpretive Layering 6 Transformation/Reversal 7 Modularity 8 Pseudo-Instinct Conclusion: The Playful Primate Notes References 5 Sport as Performance Opening With a Closing Moving Sport to Center Stage in Anthropology and Performance Studies Pedagogy and Performance Brittney Griner and Performance of Class, Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Politics Liveness, Affect, Mega-Events: Performance of Nation in the Olympic Games Brief Encore Acknowledgments Notes References 6 Weaving, Cloth, and Costumes as Vital Contributors to Performance Making the Cloth and Costumes: Preparations and Making of Essential Components in Creation Structural Messages and Symbolic Designs Related to Meaning and Indigenous Knowledge Usage: Wrapping, Layering, and Folding of the Elements Or Parts to Create a Whole Cultural Identity Enhanced By Performance: An Example of Festival Inclusion and Identity Sameness and Difference: Maintaining Individuality Within a Sense of Group Identity Accessing Messages Conveyed By Cloth and Costume During Performances References 7 Ethnographic Comportment: A Performance-Based Framework for Research Design Introduction Ethnographic Research Design (Broadly Construed) Philosophical Foundations of Ethnographic Comportment Guiding Research Precedents Discussion: Ethnographic Comportment in the Context of Researching Performance Conclusion Notes References Part II Performing as a Way of Knowing 8 Anthropology and Laboratory Theater: Opening Anthropological Orthopraxy to Different Ways of Knowing/Being From Structure to Process: Performance in Anthropology Laboratory Theater and Jerzy Grotowski A Worksession With Maud Robart A Relational, Processual, and Ecological Way of Knowing Crafting Anthropology Otherwise Towards Decolonizing Anthropological Practice Notes References 9 Miraculous Stories and the Re-Enchantment of the World: Oral Hagiographies of Guru Bawa Introduction Guru Bawa and His Fellowship The Syntax of Social Life Hagiography in Performance and Writing Marvelous Tales Abdul Rahman’s Story Sister Fatimah’s Story Granny Jeanne’s Story Art Hochberg’s Stories Re-enchanting the World In Lieu of a Conclusion Notes References 10 Who’s Performing When the God Dancer Dances?: Possession and Ritual Performance in South India Dancing the God at the Madasamy Temple Festival God Dancing, Caste, and Class Dancers, Deities, and Devotees Considering “Possession” in South India Who Is Performing? The Symbiotic Production of God Dancing Performances Notes References 11 Two-Handed Ethnography: A Method for Performance Anthropology Preface: a Multiple Performance Introduction: Two-Handed Ethnography Capoeira Our Research The Process of Two-Handed Ethnography Reflections and Conclusions Acknowledgments Notes References 12 Traveling Through Space-Time in the Manaus Boi-Bumbá Introduction Manaus The Brincadeira Do Boi From Bumba-Meu-Boi to Boi-Bumbá Bakhtin’s Concept of the Chronotope Summary of Boi-Bumbá Garanhão’s 2011 Performance, “A Arte De Folclorear” Chronotopic Analysis of A Arte De Folclorear Conclusion Notes References 13 Construction With Varied Materials: Adventures in Global Performativity and Interconnection Performance and Life Stories Existence Is Curved You Are Number 2 Afterlives Conclusion: (Re)construction With Varied Materials Bibliography Part III Performance and Identity 14 Propia De Saraguro: Performance in an Indigenous Andean Community Creating 21st-Century Vitality Overture: Rhythms of the Community Tradition That Honors the Past, Energizes the Present, and Creates Futures Back to the Music Freddy Guaillas’s Art as Critical Commentary On History and the Present Flower Arrangements (Ramos) as Performance of an Andean Cosmovision The Dance Performance Video Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References 15 Music, Identity, and Performance in East Africa Introduction Popular Music in East Africa: The Context Music Performance and Gendered Identity: A Specific Example Performing Music, Performing Politics Popular Music and Border Crossing Conclusion Notes References 16 Embodied Cultural Knowledge in Practice: An Ethio-Modern Dance Case Study of ... ... YeBuna Alem/A Coffee World Movement Knowledge and Embodied Cultural Identity The Ethio-Modern Dance Spectrum The Reason The Legend of Kaldi Embodied Ritual In the Midst Narrative in the Creative Process An Addis (New) Community Connection Impact of YeBuna Alem The Emic and Etic Aspects of Documentation Conclusion Notes References 17 Performed Identity: A Case Study in Irish Dance Introduction Early Influences Ag Noctú an Chleachtais—Irish Dance Laid Bare Casting Issues in Noctú Breaking With Tradition Ethnocentric Resistance to Irish Innovation From Virtuosity to Kinesthetic Intimacy Conclusion Notes References 18 Performing Women in Classic European Circuses Rehearsal Choreography Comedy Working Connections Relationships Performing Gender Notes References 19 Performance in Practice: “American” Karate in the Heartland Introduction: Doing Things With Ritual Background: Karate as Familiar and Strange Cultural Repertoires: Foreign Practice for Local Lives Emulating Foreign Forms of Respect and Authority in Middle America Fetishizing Efficiency Against Potential Threats “Orientalizing” Discipline, Imagining East and West The Enduring Importance of Ritual in Reterritorialized Practice References 20 (Accidentally) Doing Whiteness: The Meanings of Performance in a Rural U.S. Music Scene Whiteness and Performance at Hillbilly Allen’s The Meanings of Performance Performance as an Approach to Racialization Notes References Part IV Performance And/as Cultural Critique 21 Performance and Indigeneity: “Playing Indian” in the Theater of Darkness Prologue Act 1. The Performance of a Lifetime Act 2. Mise-En-Scène Act 3. Dramatis Personae Scene 1. The Colonial World Scene 2. Ella Cara Deloria Scene 3. Edward Dozier Scene 4. Beatrice Medicine Scene 5. Joe Medicine Crow Act 4. Breakout Performances Act 5. A Comedy of Errors Epilogue Acknowledgement Notes References 22 On Trial: Law and the Performativity of True Stories Opening: Performance and Law I Unfolding Truths of a Murder in the Woods II Asylum Seekers: The Politics of Trauma III Legal Performativity and Creativity IV Storytelling Movement: Dissent in Law and Academia Closing: What’s at Stake and the Ethics of Legal Editing Notes References 23 Beyond the Stage: Anarcho-Punks Performing Resistance in Bandung, Indonesia A Crash Course On Punk and Punk in Indonesia Rumah Pirata and the Global Anarcho-Punk Scene A Global Threat Performing Resistance Notes References 24 On Carnivals and Capitalism: Performing Neoliberal Politics in Santiago, Dominican Republic Carnival and Its Purposes Santiago and Dominican Carnivals Transformations in Dominican Carnival and Cultural Policy Performing Governmentality: Organizing Santiago’s Carnival Performing Economics: Marketing Place Through Masks and Music Performing Carnival in Neoliberalism Notes References 25 Egyptian Belly Dance IS Feeling: Intersubjectivity, .arab, and Cross-Cultural Performance Belly Dance in Egypt and Terminology Performance Theories and Intersubjectivity in Egyptian Belly Dance Ṭarab Achieving Intersubjectivity And/or .arab in Different Performance Contexts ... Or Not Women Only Cabarets Nile Cruises and Tourism Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References 26 #Capoeiristas for Black Lives: The Complementarity of Virtual and Embodied Performance Communities Background #Capoeiristas for Black Lives Palestras Virtuais (Virtual Lectures) Conclusion Notes References Part V The Future of Performance Anthropology 27 Craftwork in Ethnographic Theater Making Placing and Translating Ethnographic Theater Making Building Ethnographic Theater Building in Multisensory Experiences and More-Than-Human Encounters Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References 28 Performing the Past and the Present With an Eye to the Future: Optimizing the Potential of Land Acknowledgment... Introduction: What Are Land Acknowledgments, and Why Might They Be Problematic? History of the Genre The Baby in the Bathwater What Goes Wrong Generally? What Goes Wrong Specifically? Beyond Pressure Release, Why Might Rebellion Fail? What Makes a “Good” Acknowledgment? Self-education Is Hard Work Acknowledgments Should Disrupt A Need for Accuracy and Authenticity A Path Forward Note References 29 Performance, Play, and Resistance: Teaching and Learning at the Happiest Place On Earth Introduction Disneyland as Director The Role of the Guest Repetition and Representation On Social Media Notes References 30 A Sense-Able Partner Dance and the Senses Dance as a Way to Come to Your Senses A Good Dance Stop Dancing Like an American! How to Be a Sense-Able Partner Take Movement Seriously Develop Technology for Embodied Research In Defense of Being There Notes References 31 Beyond the Aesthetically Neutral Body: Performing Disability Futures Introduction Background: Disability On Stage Representation of Disability in Euro-American Theatre The Aesthetically Neutral Body Methodology and Research: Performance Ethnography Praxis Are Audiences Ready? Performing the Aesthetically Neutral Body in Petrozavodsk, Russia Disability Anthropology On the North American Stage: Imagination Beyond the Neutral Body How Slow Is Slow? Stationary Bike Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References Appendix Tools, Exercises, and Activities for the Anthropology of Performance A Note on this Appendix A Zone Approach to Studying the Social Implications of Performance Lauren Miller and Evangeline Jiménez Tuning in to Matizada: Attending to Micro-Moments of Aesthetic Enculturation David Syring Icebreaking and Alchemy Debra Vidali Spontaneity, Surprise, and Joy Debra Vidali The Human Barometer Debra Vidali Human Statue Creation and Inquiry Debra Vidali Transmitting Embodied Knowledge of Traditional Ethiopian Dance Ras Mikey Courtney Weaving, Cloth, and Costumes as Vital Aspects of Performance Andrea Heckman Clothed in Practicalities Noah C.G. Johnson Voice-Over Interviews Andrea Conger Transposing Transcription Practice Cassandra Hartblay Defamiliarizing Reading Caroline Gatt Writing Performance Helena Wulff Creative Ethnographic Prose: Guided Setting Exercise Julia L. Offen Index "The Routledge Companion to the Anthropology of Performance provides a cutting edge, comprehensive overview of the foundations, epistemologies, methodologies, key topics and current debates, and future directions in the field. It brings together work from the disciplines of anthropology and performance studies, as well as adjacent fields. Across 31 chapters, a diverse range of international scholars cover topics including: - Faith - Ritual - Theatre - Storytelling - Music - Dance -Textiles -Land Acknowledgements -Indigenous Identity - Visual Arts - Embodiment - Cognition - Healing - Festivals - Politics - Activism - The Law - Race & Ethnicity - Gender & Sexuality - Class - Religion & Spirituality - Disability - Leisure, Gaming, & Sport In addition, the included appendix offers Tools, Exercises, and Activities designed by contributors as useful suggestions to readers, both within and beyond academic contexts, to take the insights of performance anthropology into their work. This is a valuable reference for scholars and upper-level students in anthropology, performance studies, and related disciplines, including religious studies, art, philosophy, history, political science, gender studies, and education"-- Provided by publisher