The Anthropology of Performance

ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES OF EXPRESSIVE CULTURE All types/forms of expressive culture informal & formal forms “function" and "meaning“ essential power as objects, activities, images, performances elite cultural forms that have been popularized as well as popular forms that have been elevated to the museum tradition – Aesthetics & society/social relations cross-culturally & historically variable technologies of communication

Expressive Culture & Society relationships between cultural practices and social processes – social positioning of artist, patrons, audience etc. – relationships between systems of thought, social institutions, and different forms of material and symbolic power – systems of domination find expression in all areas of cultural practices and symbolic exchange dispositions - expressive performances of culture are reflexive instruments, social forms about society, cultural forms about culture, communicative forms about communication

PLAY differs from animal play in that it is culturally molded, varies from culture to culture play is a frame usually a timeless experience move to another kind of communication meta-communication without play no awareness of alternative realities, sets of rules, social orders all expressive performances of culture are in some way framed as play

Some Common Assumptions: Expressive Culture in Small Scale Societies embedded in everyday life portable Artists recognized for their skills but don’t necessarily have greater status Standardization people have roughly equal access to it – More ‘democratic’

Some Common Assumptions: Expressive Culture in Large Scale Societies More craft specialization, incl. those of artists. And standards become more elaborate and explicit more standardization Associated with the elite and is often owned and controlled by the upper classes art glorifies and serves the interests of the upper classes

Functions Emotional Gratification for the Individual helping people cope more effectively with tensions and aggressive feelings Contributes to Social Integration -- Social Control Preserving or Challenging the Status Quo articulating and reinforcing relationships between members of the society. passing on the cultural traditions, values, and beliefs from one generation to the next. various methods of communicating with supernatural forces expressing political values and attitudes, showing allegiance to political leaders, and controlling behavior

Anthro Language of Performance Studies Poetics – aesthetics uses of LANGUAGE Symbolic Indexical Reflexivity Performativity Text and context Hermeneutics Illocutionary force/effect Meta-narrative/narration Phatic ties – revealing or sharing feelings or establishing an atmosphere; sociability rather than communicating ideas Competence

ETHNOGRAPHIES OF SPEAKING the descriptive study of the use of language, deeply embedded in its cultural context (Dell Hymes) S – setting and scene P – participants E – ends: the desired or expected outcome A – Act: how form and content are delivered K – key: mood or spirit (serious, ironic, etc.) I – instrumentalities: the dialect or language variety N – norms: speaking conventions G – genres: different types of performance (speech, joke, sermon, etc.)

performative aspects of culture "emergent" quality despite its fixed character, is still modified by presentational conditions performer" and "audience," all participants are in fact co-creators of the piece being performed. every performance is a unique event the analysis of a given performance is of less interest than the analysis of the social and communicative processes that engender it