This course examines what performance does 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, and class? What is involved in performing community or performing culture? While our primary focus will be on performance art, we will also study dance, gesture, installation, and kinesthetic sculpture, in order to consider how performance occurs on the stage, in the gallery, in the streets, and in our everyday lives. 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 Philosophy and Critical Studies, with particular emphasis on Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, Aesthetic Theory, and the philosophical field of Phenomenology. In addition to participating in active discussion, students will learn to develop performances that engage the key issues and themes of the course.

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