Outline

Overview

What if all the world really is a stage? In this unit, you will learn key theories and conceptual tools for analysing the broad spectrum of performance events that lie beyond what is conventionally associated with the term 'theatre'. You will conduct original research, focusing on how performance (re)constitutes identity and (re)forms a culture.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	PRFM2601
Academic unit	Theatre and Performance Studies
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	PRFM2001
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Theatre and Performance Studies
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Jodie McNeilly, jodie.mcneilly@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Research essay Essay	50%	Formal exam period Due date: 15 Jun 2020 at 23:59	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response to set reading: Bourdieu Short Answer	15%	Week 07 Due date: 06 Apr 2020 at 23:59	600 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response to set reading: Turner Short Answer	15%	Week 09 Due date: 27 Apr 2020 at 23:59	600 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research proposal Essay template	20%	Week 11 Due date: 11 May 2020 at 23:59	800 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Performance analysis and everyday life	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Performance of self in everyday life #1	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Performance as special event: John Lowell Lewis	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 03	Performance in everyday life #2	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 03	Observation Workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 04	Body Capital: Louic Waquant & the Chicago Pugilists	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 04	Writing Workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 05	Bourdieu's Theory of Practice 1	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 05	Bourdieu: key term(s)	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 06	Bourdieu's Theory of Practice 2	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 06	Bourdieu: key term(s)	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 07	Rituals as performance	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 07	Writing workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 08	Liminal or liminoid/ritual or ritual-like	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 08	Turner: key term(s)	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 09	Performance and identity	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 09	Writing workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 10	Performativity in performance	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 10	Butler: key term(s)	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 11	Research Proposals	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 12	Your research proposal	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 13	Research Proposal to Essay	Workshop (3 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Workshops are not recorded
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Week 2

Required: Richards, Alison. 2001. ‘Shaking the Frame: Erving Goffman and Performance Studies’. Australasian Drama Studies, no. 39. La Trobe University at Bundorra: 58-75,186.

Recommended: Lewis, John Lowell. 2013. ‘The Anthropology of Cultural Performance’. In The Anthropology of Cultural Performance, pp. 1–20, New York : Palgrave Macmillan.

Week 3

Required: Goffman, Erving. 1990. ‘Performances: Belief in the Part One Is Playing’. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Nachdr, pp.17–51. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Week 4

Required: Wacquant, Loïc J.D. 1995. ‘Pugs at Work: Bodily Capital and Bodily Labour among Professional Boxers’. Body & Society 1 (1). SAGE Publications: pp. 65–93. doi:10.1177/1357034X95001001005.

Week 5

Required: (video) Hage, Ghassan. 2016a. ‘Key Thinkers: Ghassan Hage on Pierre Bourdieu Part 1’. Youtube/The Monthly Slow TV. Youtube/The Monthly Slow TV. May 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn9daX6Jt4g.

Required: (video) Hage, Ghassan. 2016b. ‘Key Thinkers: Ghassan Hage on Pierre Bourdieu Part 2’. Youtube/The Monthly Slow TV. Youtube/The Monthly Slow TV. May 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfBiw9F_oUw.

Required: Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. ‘Structures and the Habitus’. In Outline for a Theory of Practice, p. 72. Cambridge University.

Week 6

Required: Maton, Karl. 2008. ‘Maton, Karl. 2008. “Habitus”’. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, pp. 49–65. Acumen.

Recommended: Thompson, Patricia. 2008. ‘“Field”’. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, edited by Michael Grenfell, pp. 65–82. Acumen.

Recommended: Moore, Rob. 2008. ‘“Capital”’. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, edited by Michael Grenfell, pp. 98–113. Acumen.

Week 7

Required: Maxwell, Ian, 2015. ‘My Big Fat Greek Baptism (Pp 65-76)’. In Performance and Temporalisation: Time Happens. Grant, McNeilly and Veerapen (ed.) Basingstoke, U.K: Palgrave Macmillan,Palgrave Macmillan UK. doi:10.1057/9781137410276.

Week 8

Required: Turner, Victor W. 1982. ‘Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, Ritual: An Essay in Comparative Symbology’. In From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play, pp. 20–59. New York City : Performing Arts Journal Publications.

Week 9

Required: TBC

Week 10

Required: Butler, Judith. 1999. ‘Preface (1999)’. In Gender Trouble, 2nd ed., pp. vii–xxvi. Routledge.

Week 11

Recommended: Ness, Sally Ann. 2008. ‘Being a Body in a Cultural Way: Understanding the Cultural in the Embodiment of Dance’. In Cultural Bodies: Ethnography and Theory, pp. 123–44. MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Secondary Readings for Essay (not exhaustive list, will be added to as semester progresses)

Buckland, Fiona. 2002. Impossible Dance: Club Culture and Queer World-Making. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press.

Crossley, Nick. 2015. ‘Music Worlds and Body Techniques: On the Embodiment of Musicking’. Cultural Sociology 9. Sage: 471–92.

Findlay, Rosie. 2017. ‘“Things to Be Seen”: Spectacle and the Performance of Brand in Contemporary Fashion Shows’. About Performance, no. 14/15: 105–19.

Foster, Susan Leigh. 2003. ‘Choreographies of Protest’. Theatre Journal 55 (3). Washington, D. C: Johns Hopkins University Press,The Johns Hopkins University Press: 395–412. doi:10.1353/tj.2003.0111.

Hockey, John, and Jacquelyn Allen Collinson. 2007. ‘Grasping the Phenomenology of Sporting Bodies’. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 42. Sage: 115–31.

Jaimangal‐Jones, Dewi, Annette Pritchard, and Nigel Morgan. 2010. ‘Going the Distance: Locating Journey, Liminality and Rites of Passage in Dance Music Experiences’. Leisure Studies 29. Taylor and Francis: 253–68.

McAuley, Gay. 2014. ‘Performing Sydney: Inhabiting the Edge’. In Performing Cities, edited by Nicolas Whybrow, 141–58. Palgrave Macmillan.

Maxwell, Ian. 1998. ‘Football Is Not Theatre’. About Performance 4. University of Sydney: 77–84.

Román, David. 2003. ‘Theatre Journals: Dance Liberation’. Theatre Journal 55 (3). Washington, D. C: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Simon, Bradford Scott. 1997. ‘Entering the Pit: Slam-Dancing and Modernity’. Journal of Popular Culture 31. Wiley: 149–76.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. understand the contributions of some key thinkers to the development of performance studies
LO2. apply methods drawn from the work of these thinkers in order to analyse a variety of performance events
LO3. draw on general theories of performance as a conceptual lens for understanding some non-theatrical events in everyday life
LO4. demonstrate an embodied understanding of, and response to, key concepts
LO5. plan and execute a piece of independent performance research.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Modifications have regularly been made to the delivery of this course in response to student feedback.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

PRFM2601: Being There: Theories of Performance

Semester 1, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect