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Theatre and anthropology

On the theatrical and anthropological front the research collaborations of director Richard Schechner and anthropologist Victor Turner. This origin narrative emphasizes a definition of performance as being "between theatre and anthropology" and often stresses the importance of intercultural performances as an alternative to either traditional proscenium theatre or traditional anthropological fieldwork. Dwight Conquergood developed a branch of performance ethnography that centered the political nature of the practice and advocated for methodological dialogism from the point of encounter to the practices of research reporting. Bryan Reynolds has developed a combined performance theory and critical methodology known as “transversal poetics” to bring historical analysis in conversation with current research in a number of fields, from social semiotics to cognitive neuroscience, the effect of which has been to expand the relevancy of performance studies across academic disciplines. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett has contributed an interest in tourist productions and ethnographic showmanship to the field, Judd Case has adapted performance to the study of media and religion,^[2] Diana Taylor has brought a hemispheric perspective on Latin American performance and theorized the relationship between the archive and the performance repertoire, while Corinne Kratz developed a mode of performance analysis that emphasizes the role of multimedia communication in performance.^[3]

'Performatives' and speech-act theory

An alternative origin narrative stresses the development of speech-act theory by philosophers J.L. Austin and Judith Butler, literary critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and also Shoshana Felman. The theory proposed by Austin in How To Do Things With Words states that “to say something is to do something, or in saying something we do something, and even by saying something we do something.”^[4] the most illustrative example being "I do," as part of a marriage ceremony. For any of these performative utterances to be felicitous, per Austin, they must be true, appropriate and conventional according to those with the proper authority: a priest, a judge, or the scholar, for instance. Austin accounts for the infelicitous by noting that “there will always occur difficult or marginal cases where nothing in the previous history of a conventional procedure will decide conclusively whether such a procedure is or is not correctly applied to such a case.”^[5] The possibility of failure in performatives (utterances made with language and the body) is taken up by Butler and is understood as the “political promise of the performative.”^[6] Her argument is that because the performative needs to maintain conventional power, convention itself has to be reiterated, and in this reiteration it can be expropriated by the unauthorized usage and thus create new futures. She cites Rosa Parks as an example:

When Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus, she had no prior right to do so guaranteed by any…conventions of the South. And yet, in laying claim to the right for which she had no prior authorization, she endowed a certain authority on the act, and began the insurrectionary process of overthrowing those established codes of legitimacy.^[7]

The question of the infelicitous utterance (the misfire)is also taken up by Shoshana Felman when she states "Infelicity, or failure, is not for Austin an accident of the performative, it is inherent in it, essential to it. In other words…Austin conceives of failure not as external but as internal to the promise, as what actually constitutes it.^[8]”

Literature

Performance Studies as an academic field has multiple origin narratives. On the literature front Wallace Bacon (1914–2001), considered by many the father of Performance theory, taught performance of literature as the ultimate act of humility. In his defining statement of performance theory Bacon writes "Our center is in the interaction between readers and texts which enriches, extends, clarifies, and (yes) alters the interior and even the exterior lives of students [and performers and audiences] through the power of texts" (Literature in Performance, Vol 5 No 1, 1984; p. 84). In addition, Robert Breen's text Chamber Theatre is a cornerstone in the field for staging narrative texts though controversial in its assertions about the place of narrative details in chamber productions. Breen is also regarded by many as a founding theorist for the discipline along with advocate Louise Rosenblatt.

Critical theory

Performance studies has also had a strong relationship to the fields of feminism, psychoanalysis, critical race theory and queer theory. Theorists like Peggy Phelan,^[9] José Esteban Muñoz,^[10] E. Patrick Johnson,^[11] Rebecca Schneider,^[12] and André Lepecki have been equally influential in both performance studies and these related fields.

Other influences

Performance studies incorporates theories of drama, dance, art, anthropology, folkloristics, philosophy, cultural studies, psychology, sociology, comparative literature, and more and more, music performance. More can be found out by reading Schechner's book: Performance Studies: An Introduction or in D. Soyini Madison and Judith Hamera's The Sage Handbook for Performance Studies.^[13]

Performance Studies programs

The first performance studies department was created at NYU. However, there is some debate that the joint-cradles of Performance Studies are Northwestern University and NYU. For more information on the different origins and disciplinary traditions of performance studies see Shannon Jackson's book Professing Performance and the introductory chapter in Nathan Stucky and Cynthia Wimmer's Teaching Performance Studies.^[14] Generally the differences between the NYU and Northwestern models cite different disciplinary concerns. NYU is generally characterized as a program that pushed the definitions of theatrical practice influenced by the thearical avant-garde thus expanding its definition of what can be framed as an event. Interaction with departments that include NYU's Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy have made this an ongoing pursuit. Northwestern transitioned from an elocution and performance of literature tradition to expand its definition of presentational aesthetics beyond oral interpretation. Northwestern's unique brand of performance studies has its origins in anthropology, having been started by the ethnographer Dwight Conquergood with the goal of understanding all manner of local cultures through their performance practices. In both instances a focus on practice lead to a research methodology beyond theatre or literature/speech. In the United States, the interdisciplinary and multi-focus field has spread to Brown, UC Berkeley, and elsewhere. Undergraduate and graduate programs are offered at UC Davis, Louisiana State University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, California State University, Northridge, San Jose State University, University of San Diego, University of Maryland, and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Texas A&M University’s Department of Performance Studies is unique in including both Music and Theatre degree programs.

In the United Kingdom Aberystwyth University offers a degree scheme in performance studies with highly acclaimed performance artists such as Mike Pearson, Heike Roms and Jill Greenhalgh.

In Denmark Roskilde University offers a master and ph.d. degree in "performance design", focusing on subjects such as theatrical performances, live music, festivals, and urban performances.

In India, the research initiatives of Centre for Performance Research and Cultural Studies in South Asia (cpracsis) focus on redefining methodologies of cultural studies and research on the basis of the nuances of performance studies.

In Australia, the University of Sydney, Victoria University and Queensland University of Technology offer degrees majoring in performance studies, Honours, Masters and Phd. Performance Studies in some countries is also an A-level (AS and A2) course consisting of the integration of the discrete art forms of Dance, Music and Drama in performing arts.