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
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
erincin_4142_syllabus.docx