THDA 489 - Seminar in Performance Theory and Practice

What are the hopes of performance and performance theory in the current era of globalization? How do aesthetic and social projects, including visual art, theatre, performance events, and dance, engage with the many registers of thinking, what Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak calls ‘a planetary’ arts and criticism? In this class we assess some of the ways that performance artists and theorists conceptualize and address formal artistic methodologies, culture, and the politics of performance in an era of globalization. Our premise is that all researchers are cultural producers, at once located within processes of globalization and mapping their terrains. Understanding theory as the attempt to practice and articulate methods of action (nothing more, nothing less) we examine some of the essential critical vocabularies for thinking performance and the social together. Readings in Performance research, in addition to Critical Theory, Feminist/Queer Theory, and critical race theory contribute to our study of contemporary Performance Theory. Specific theme may vary by semester, depending on instructor. (4 Credits)