Performance Studies : An Introduction

by Schechner; Richard

• ISBN13: 9780415372466
• ISBN10: 0415372461
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-06-12
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The second edition of an important introductory textbook by a prime mover in the field of Performance Studies, which was a defining moment for the discipline. It provides a lively and accessible overview of the full range of performance for undergraduates at all levels and beginning graduate students in performance studies, theatre, performing arts and cultural studies. It includes discussion of the performing arts and popular entertainment, rituals, play and games as well as the performances of every day life. Supporting examples and ideas are drawn from the performing arts, anthropology, post-structuralism, ritual theory, ethology, philosophy and aesthetics. The text has been fully revised and updated, developed with input from leading teachers and trilled with students. User-friendly, with a special text design, it also includes the following features: Extracts from primary sources giving alternative voices and viewpoints Biographies of key thinkers "Things to think about"and "things to do" to stimulate fieldwork, classroom exercises and discussion Key reading lists for each chapter 20 line drawings and 173 b/w photographs drawn from private and public collections around the world.

Table of Contents

Preface to first edition	ix
Preface to second edition	xi
What is Performance Studies?	1	(27)
Introducing this book, this field, and me	1	(1)
The boxes	1	(1)
What makes performance studies special	1	(3)
Muliple literacies and hypertexts	4	(1)
Performance studies here, there, and everywhere	5	(6)
Is performance studies an independent field?	11	(5)
The Victor Turner connection	16	(3)
The Centre for Performance Research and PSi	19	(1)
Northwestern's brand of performance studies	19	(3)
The ``inter'' of performance studies	22	(1)
Ethical questions	23	(3)
Conclusion	26	(1)
Talk about	26	(1)
Perform	27	(1)
Read	27	(1)
What is Performance?	28	(24)
What is ``to perform''?	28	(1)
Performances	28	(2)
Bill Parcells wants you to perform	30	(1)
Eight kinds of performance	31	(3)
Restoration of behavior	34	(2)
Caution! Beware of generalizations	36	(2)
``Is'' and ``as'' performance	38	(2)
Maps ``as'' performance	40	(2)
Make belief and make-believe	42	(2)
Blurry boundaries	44	(1)
The functions of performance	45	(4)
Conclusion	49	(2)
Talk about	51	(1)
Perform	51	(1)
Read	51	(1)
Ritual	52	(37)
Ritual, play, and performance	52	(1)
Varieties of ritual	52	(1)
Sacred and secular	53	(3)
Structures, functions, processes, and experiences	56	(1)
How ancient are rituals?	57	(1)
Eleven themes relating ritual to performance studies	57	(1)
Rituals as action, as performance	57	(2)
Human and animal rituals	59	(7)
Rituals as liminal performances	66	(4)
Communitas and anti-structure	70	(1)
Ritual time/space	71	(1)
Transportations and transformations	72	(1)
Asemo's initiation	73	(2)
Social drama	75	(2)
The pig-kill dancing at Kurumugi	77	(2)
The efficacy---entertainment dyad	79	(1)
Origins of performance: If not ritual, then what?	80	(1)
Changing rituals or inventing new ones	81	(2)
Using rituals in theatre, dance, and music	83	(4)
Conclusion	87	(1)
Talk about	88	(1)
Perform	88	(1)
Read	88	(1)
Play	89	(34)
The joker in the deck	89	(2)
What is play? What is playing?	91	(1)
Some qualities of playing	92	(1)
Seven ways to approach play	93	(1)
Types of playing	93	(2)
Play acts, play moods	95	(2)
Flow, or experiencing playing	97	(1)
Transitional objects, illusions, and culture	98	(1)
The ethological approach to play	99	(3)
The message, ``This is play''	102	(1)
Bateson's Othello	103	(2)
Playing blood rites	105	(1)
Philosophies of play	106	(6)
The bias against play	112	(1)
Maya--lila	113	(5)
Deep play, dark play	118	(3)
Conclusion	121	(1)
Talk about	121	(1)
Perform	121	(1)
Read	122	(1)
Performativity	123	(47)
A term hard to pin down	123	(1)
Austin's performative	123	(2)
Scarle's speech acts	125	(1)
Reality TV and beyond	126	(3)
Postmodernism	129	(4)
Simulation	133	(8)
Poststucturalism/deconstruction	141	(6)
The diffusion of poststructuralism	147	(1)
Problems with poststructuralism	148	(3)
Constructions of gender	151	(3)
Constructions of race	154	(4)
During, before, and after performance art	158	(9)
What the Gravedigger knew about the performative	167	(1)
Conclusion	167	(1)
Talk about	168	(1)
Perform	168	(1)
Read	168	(2)
Performing	170	(51)
The broad spectrum of performing	170	(4)
From total acting to not acting	174	(2)
Realistic acting	176	(4)
Brechtian acting	180	(3)
Codified acting	183	(5)
Codified acting and the avant-garde	188	(2)
Codified acting, ritual, charisma, and presence	190	(2)
Trance performing	192	(6)
Trance performing and shamanism	198	(5)
Masks, puppets, and other performing objects	203	(2)
Hybrid acting	205	(1)
Performing in everyday life	206	(5)
Trials and executions as performance	211	(3)
Surgery as performance	214	(1)
Belief in the role one is playing	215	(3)
How realistic is realistic acting?	218	(2)
Conclusion	220	(1)
Talk about	220	(1)
Perform	220	(1)
Read	220	(1)
Performance Processes	221	(42)
The earliest performances	221	(4)
Performance process as a time-space sequence	225	(1)
Proto-performance	225	(2)
A note on ``text''	227	(1)
Training	228	(4)
Imitation as a way of acquiring performance knowledge	232	(1)
Workshop	233	(3)
Rehearsal	236	(3)
Warm-up	239	(1)
Public performance	240	(4)
Larger events and contexts	244	(1)
Cooldown	245	(1)
Aftermath	246	(3)
Rules, proto-performance, and public performance	249	(1)
The performance quadrilogue	250	(5)
From performance montage to desktop theatre	255	(5)
Experimental in one context, ordinary in another	260	(1)
Conclusion	261	(1)
Talk about	262	(1)
Perform	262	(1)
Read	262	(1)
Global and Intercultural Performances	263	(63)
Globalization's throughline	263	(2)
Scenarios of globalization	265	(3)
Cultural impositions and appropriations	268	(2)
Jihad/terrorism as performance	270	(9)
Is globalization good or bad?	279	(5)
Colonial mimicry	284	(2)
Tourist performances: Leisure globalization	286	(5)
The Olympics: Globalism's signature performance	291	(5)
Vertical transculturalism	296	(2)
Horizontal interculturalism	298	(6)
Integrative interculturalism	304	(6)
Border wars	310	(6)
From the global to social theatre	316	(5)
Conclusion	321	(4)
Talk about	325	(1)
Perform	325	(1)
Read	325	(1)
References	326	(15)
Index	341