This is the first course to be taught under the auspices of the new Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Each course follows a similarly structured syllabus, and shares an essential reading list. The three courses will be coordinated through a shared website, which will house course readings, translation software, and other material related to the course. This course is intended as a research seminar. Students are expected to develop independent research projects related to this material, and work with primary materials whenever possible.
Collaborative research is encouraged-including collaborative work with students in Peru and Brazil.
Final projects will be presented as multimedia web pages at the end of the semester. This seminar explores the architectural, sociological and aesthetic theories of the avant-garde in relation to the intercultural and transnational movements of taste, commodities, and peoples. It queries the hegemony of vision by juxtapositioning other histories of the senses. 4 points This course will consider the poetics and politics of solo performance. We will contemplate the spectacle of a lone individual on stage and the ways in which her or his singularity produces a specific mode of theatricality.