🎬Performance Studies Unit 7 – Performance and Power

Key Concepts and Definitions

• Performance involves the presentation of self in everyday life and the enactment of social roles and cultural scripts
• Power refers to the ability to influence, control, or shape the actions, beliefs, and behaviors of others
  • Includes various forms such as political power, economic power, social power, and cultural power
• Hegemony describes the dominant cultural, social, and political norms and values that shape society and maintain the status quo
• Resistance encompasses actions, behaviors, and performances that challenge or subvert dominant power structures and hegemonic norms
• Identity is the sense of self that is constructed and performed through social interactions and cultural contexts
  • Intersectionality highlights how multiple identities (race, gender, class) intersect and shape experiences of power and oppression
• Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make choices within the constraints of social structures and power relations
• Performativity describes how language and actions not only describe reality but also construct and shape it through repeated performances

Historical Context of Performance and Power

• Performance has long been used as a tool for asserting, maintaining, and challenging power throughout history
• In ancient societies, ritual performances (coronations, religious ceremonies) served to legitimize and reinforce political and religious authority
• Medieval European court performances (masques, pageants) displayed the wealth and power of the monarchy and nobility
• Colonial performances (exhibitions, world fairs) asserted European dominance and justified the subjugation of colonized peoples
  • These performances often exoticized and dehumanized non-European cultures as primitive and inferior
• 20th-century avant-garde movements (Dada, Surrealism) used performance to challenge bourgeois values and conventional art forms
• Civil rights and social justice movements (Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation) employed performance tactics (sit-ins, protests) to resist oppression and demand equality
• In the postcolonial era, performance has been used by marginalized groups to reclaim cultural identities and assert agency in the face of ongoing power imbalances

Theoretical Frameworks

• Marxist theories analyze how economic power structures shape social relations and cultural production, including performance
  • Focuses on class struggle and the role of ideology in maintaining capitalist hegemony
• Foucauldian theories examine how power operates through discourse, knowledge, and disciplinary practices that shape subjectivities and bodies
  • Emphasizes the productive and diffuse nature of power rather than solely repressive top-down models
• Postcolonial theories critique the legacies of colonialism and imperialism in shaping global power relations and cultural representations
  • Highlights the agency and resistance of colonized and marginalized peoples through performance
• Feminist theories interrogate how gender and sexuality are performed and regulated through patriarchal power structures
  • Examines the subversive potential of feminist performance to challenge and transform gender norms
• Queer theories challenge heteronormative assumptions and binary constructions of gender and sexuality
  • Explores how queer performances can disrupt and destabilize dominant notions of identity and desire
• Afro-pessimist theories contend that anti-Blackness is foundational to modern power structures and social relations
  • Analyzes how Black performance navigates and resists the ontological negation of Blackness

Power Dynamics in Performance

• Performances can reinforce existing power hierarchies by naturalizing and legitimizing dominant norms and values
  • Nationalist performances (parades, anthems) construct and maintain national identities and loyalties
• Performances can also challenge and subvert power structures by exposing their contradictions and imagining alternative possibilities
  • Protest performances (guerrilla theater, flash mobs) disrupt public space and draw attention to social injustices
• The relationship between performers and audiences reflects and negotiates power dynamics
  • Performers can assert authority over audiences through techniques of manipulation, persuasion, and charisma
  • Audiences can resist or reinterpret performances through tactics of disengagement, critique, and appropriation
• Institutional contexts (theaters, museums) shape the production and reception of performances through mechanisms of funding, curation, and access
  • These contexts often privilege dominant cultural forms and marginalize alternative voices
• The commodification of performance in capitalist markets can co-opt and depoliticize subversive practices
  • But it can also provide opportunities for marginalized artists to reach wider audiences and gain economic power
• Digital technologies and social media platforms are reshaping power dynamics in performance by enabling new forms of creation, circulation, and interaction
  • These platforms can democratize access and participation, but also reinforce surveillance and control

Case Studies and Examples

• The "Theater of the Oppressed" developed by Augusto Boal uses participatory techniques (Forum Theatre) to empower marginalized communities to rehearse resistance against oppression
• The "Paris is Burning" documentary showcases how Black and Latinx queer communities in 1980s New York City used ballroom performances to create alternative kinship structures and assert agency in the face of racism, homophobia, and poverty
• The "Candomblé" religious performances in Brazil syncretize African and Catholic elements to preserve cultural identity and resist colonial erasure
  • These performances were often suppressed and criminalized by the Brazilian state as threats to national unity
• The "Ping Pong Diplomacy" of the 1970s used table tennis matches between the US and China as performances of geopolitical rapprochement and soft power
• The "Disability Visibility Project" amplifies the voices and experiences of disabled people through storytelling performances that challenge ableist assumptions and advocate for accessibility and inclusion
• The "#MeToo movement" has used social media testimonials and public demonstrations to expose the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault and demand accountability from powerful perpetrators
  • These performances have sparked wider conversations about gendered power dynamics in the workplace and beyond

Performance Techniques and Strategies

• Brechtian "alienation" techniques (breaking the fourth wall, direct address) disrupt the illusion of reality and encourage critical reflection on social conditions
• Boalian "spect-actor" techniques invite audience members to intervene in the action and rehearse alternative outcomes
• Grotowski's "poor theater" strips away theatrical artifice to focus on the essential encounter between actor and spectator
• Artaudian "theater of cruelty" assaults the senses and subconscious to shock audiences out of complacency
• Feminist "autobiographical" performances use personal narratives to politicize the private and challenge the universality of dominant perspectives
• Postcolonial "syncretic" performances hybridize cultural forms to assert agency and resist assimilation
• Digital "interactive" performances use new media technologies to create immersive and participatory experiences that blur the boundaries between virtual and physical worlds

Critical Analysis and Interpretation

• Analyzing the historical and cultural contexts of performances can reveal how they reflect and shape power relations
  • Situating performances within specific time periods, locations, and communities can illuminate their political and social significance
• Examining the aesthetic and formal elements of performances can uncover how they convey meaning and affect audiences
  • Close readings of text, movement, sound, and image can expose the ideological and emotional work of performances
• Comparing and contrasting different performances can highlight patterns and variations in how power is negotiated and contested
  • Juxtaposing performances across genres, cultures, and time periods can generate new insights and connections
• Considering the positionality and perspective of the analyst can acknowledge how interpretation is shaped by one's own identity and experiences
  • Reflexivity about one's own biases and limitations can lead to more nuanced and accountable analyses
• Engaging with the responses and interpretations of diverse audiences can enrich and complicate understandings of performances
  • Attending to the multiple and contradictory ways that performances are received and appropriated can reveal their complex effects and legacies
• Situating performances within larger systems and structures of power can expose their limitations and possibilities for social change
  • Connecting performances to broader issues of inequality, oppression, and resistance can underscore their political stakes and efficacy

Contemporary Applications and Relevance

• Performance remains a vital tool for marginalized communities to assert identity, build solidarity, and advocate for social justice in the face of ongoing oppression
  • Indigenous performances (powwows, hula) preserve cultural heritage and resist colonial erasure
  • Black Lives Matter protests use embodied performances (die-ins, chants) to demand accountability for racist police violence
• Performance is increasingly integrated into social movements and activist strategies to raise awareness, mobilize support, and effect policy change
  • Climate justice activists use performance art (puppet shows, street theater) to dramatize the urgency of the ecological crisis
  • Immigrant rights advocates use storytelling performances (testimonios, caravans) to humanize the experiences of undocumented people
• Performance is being adapted to digital platforms and virtual spaces, creating new opportunities for global connection and creative expression
  • Social media challenges (Ice Bucket Challenge, Mannequin Challenge) use participatory performance to raise money and awareness for social causes
  • Virtual theater productions use video conferencing and gaming technologies to create immersive and interactive performances that transcend physical boundaries
• Performance is being used in educational and therapeutic contexts to foster empathy, critical thinking, and personal growth
  • Drama therapy uses role-play and improvisation to help individuals process trauma and develop coping skills
  • Educational theater programs use performance to engage students in active learning and social-emotional development
• Performance continues to be a site of cultural struggle and negotiation, reflecting and shaping the power dynamics of an increasingly interconnected and unequal world
  • The globalization of performance circuits (festivals, tours) creates new forms of cultural exchange and appropriation
  • The commodification of performance in the experience economy raises questions about authenticity, ownership, and exploitation