32240 Proseminar

Sabine Sielke

The Poetics of Performance

Performance and performativity are not only central terms in the gender theory of Judith Butler. They have become buzz words in other areas of culture as well: literary theory discusses the performativity of language; cultural studies explore the performativity of the commonplace; poetry performances are having a remarkable revival; and even history, by way of re-dramatization, meanwhile is conceived of as an 'event.'

One reason for this currency of the theory and practice of performance is that it seems to promise a way out off a conceptual and political impass. The notion of performativity acknowledges that identity and history are culturally constructed; the practice of performance in turn seems to allow for individual agency and authority, even if such authority remains limited to the local or reduced to parody and ironic distance.

The seminar will examine theories of performativity as well as diverse performative practices, including the manipulations of dress codes characteristic for modern female authors (such as Dickinson, Stein, and Moore), the self-fashioning stage acts of Elvis Presley and gangsta rap, the 'citation theater' of Madonna as well as commemorative events of the so-called anti-monument movement. Our aim is to explore the multiple forms, traditions, and cultural functions of the performative, to challenge its promises, and to assess its political potential.

Credit prerequisites are regular and active participation, an oral presentation, and a (carefully researched, written, and argued) seminar paper of 5 to 10 pages.

READINGS INCLUDE:

• Judith Butler: Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative.
  New York (Routledge) 1997.
• Marvin Carlson: Performance: A Critical Introduction.
  London (Routledge) 1990.
• Timothy Murray: Drama Trauma: Specters of Race and Sexuality in Performance, Video, and Art.
  London (Routledge) 1997.