Cultural Performance

Research Paper # 100216

Anthropology > Cultural
Communication > Interpersonal
Sociology > Theory

This paper discusses the concept of cultural performance.

2,177 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the body of scholarly literature on "cultural performance" is diverse and spans a wide range of disciplines and theoretical perspectives and interests. This essay represents an effort to synthesize three prominent articles by leading theorists in this area: Victor Turner, Richard Schechner, and Marvin Carlson. The paper demonstrates that, while these articles cover similar material in many respects, they differ primarily in terms of their respective objectives, with Carlson's work being a broader, descriptive review of the body of literature on the subject of "performance" while Turner and Schechner present more focused, thesis-driven works examining performance from their respective theoretical positions. The paper also argues that a synthesis of the three articles allows the reader to not only situate the concept of "performance of culture" within its scholarly context, but also to understand with greater precision the implications of this concept for the analysis of specific cultural productions and narratives.

Outline:
Introduction
Performance: Interdisciplinary Agreement and Controversy
Performance Theory: 3 Articles and 3 Approaches
The Practical Significance of Performance Theory
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Schechner's article demonstrates in greater detail than Turner's just how many different forms performances can assume across cultures. Schechner departs from Turner in that while Turner argued that theatrical models of performances derived originally from religious rituals, Schechner suggests that this development may have been a two-way process in which rituals may also have emerged from theatre. It may be argued that Schechner is here extending Turner's idea about "feedback" between theatrical performance and society back to include the very origins of ritualized behaviour in the human species. This difference is important for it allows us to apply the theoretical models of performance analysis more widely than even Turner would acknowledge given that, as Schechner suggests, performance in the form of aesthetic genres (e.g., theatre, dance, music) may not have grown out of any previous form but may actually "be co-existent with the human species"."

Sample of Sources Used:

Carlson, Marvin. "The Performance of Culture: Anthropological and Ethnographic Approaches." Performance: A Critical Introduction Second Edition. London: Routledge, 2004, 11-30.
Schechner, Richard. "Magnitudes of Performance." In Richard Schechner and Willa Appel, eds. By Means of Performance. New York: Cambridge U P, 1990, 19-49.
Turner, Victor. "Are There Universals of Performance in Myth, Ritual and Drama?" In Richard Schechner and Willa Appel, eds. By Means of Performance. New York: Cambridge U P, 1990, 8-18.