PERFORMING PROTEST Performance Studies Serap Erincin Department of Communication seraperincin@lsu.edu Louisiana State University Office Hours: Wed 2.30pm – 3.30pm Wed: 3.30pm – 6.20pm Office: 227 Coates 137 Coates (225) 578-4172 In this course you will conceptualize, devise, direct, and perform solo or collaborative pieces that we will broadly consider as protest performance. We will experiment with how individual experiences and imagination can become material for works of art while maintaining broader social and political themes. Through works of dance, theatre, performative writing, media and performance art and public demonstrations, artists and activists theorize and practice performance (broadly construed) as a means for protest and social justice. Artistic and social performances about racial, ethnic, and gender inequalities and conflict, state oppression and violence, and other injustices bring visibility to the issues they address. In this course, we will also engage with critical and philosophical texts that deal with protest performances, especially those concerning disenfranchised populations. We will read authors who provide theoretical frameworks, authors who pose global questions through case studies, and authors who pursue thematic approaches at the intersection of social justice and performance studies scholarship. We will also discuss protest performances, especially those by or that advocate for minorities and women. We will emphasize the transnational and cross-cultural politics of such praxis as well as the relationship between social media, technology, and communication. Finally, participants will critically and artistically inquire into philosophical, political, or cultural questions of individual issues through their own performance. You may create a live, visual, literary, or media performance and write an artist’s statement. Alternatively, you may write a 12-15 page research paper on a work or event of your choosing. You will develop several pieces of live, visual, or media art pieces throughout the semester, contribute to the class blog, and write in other capacities. This course
You are all expected to see a performance during the last week of October. You will decide in September which performance you want to see. The choice will be conferred with me. Each of you will write your own performance analysis. The nature of the assignment will be discussed in further detail in class. The review will be 3-4 (double-spaced) pages. Presentations Each week a participant will give a ten to fifteen minute presentation on that week’s reading/viewing. You are expected to think critically on the readings and prepare for a conversation. Final Project Ideally, you will start thinking about your final project immediately. Your final project may be a 5-10 minute performance/an installation/video art/media art accompanied by a 4-5 page artist’s statement or a lecture performance. You may also write a 12-15 page research paper. Blog Before 11pm every Tuesday you will post seven to ten points from the reading and viewing due that week that seem significant to you and that outline the material (we’ll call this a map of the material). At the end of each week, before Friday at 8 pm, you are all expected to post at least one response (between one to three paragraphs) to the previous week’s readings, presentation, class discussion, and the viewings. Think of this as a space where the conversation continues after class. Office Hour Each of you will sign up for a 15 minute appointment to meet with me during my office hours during September so we can discuss your ideas for the final project and any other concerns. Always feel free to talk to me during my office hours. Also, feel free to contact me on email for any questions you might have. Only in an emergency and during class time, call the office phone to leave a message. Academic Integrity