This course examines the possibilities and limits of two different but related terms: performance and performativity. By asking what performance and performativity do in the world, we will consider how embodied symbolic actions can initiate and shape certain forms of social action and social change. How do we "perform" identity, gender, race, or class? What is involved in performing community or performing culture? While our primary focus will be on live art, we will also study theater, dance, gesture, installation, and kinesthetic sculpture, in order to consider how performance occurs on the stage, in the gallery, and in everyday life. In each instance, we will parse the relationship between live performance and its capacity for creating social change. The course uses an interdisciplinary approach to critical studies, with particular emphasis on Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, Phenomenology, and Aesthetic Theory. In addition to participating in active discussion, students will learn to create performances that engage the key issues and themes of the course.

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