Performance and Protest

Catalog description

This seminar introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of performance studies by analyzing connections between performance and protest. Covering a range of protests and performances, from the 1968 student and worker protests in Europe and the US to the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, the course explores the role of performance in protest movements and contemplate how artistic performances work as protests. We will think of protest as performance, identifying mechanisms of display, spectacle, and embodiment. Assignments will include designing a performance element for a protest and critically analyzing the performance of a live (or recorded, depending on access) protest.