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

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

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Research essay Essay	50%	Formal exam period Due date: 16 Jun 2021 at 23:59	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response to set reading: Bourdieu Short Answer	15%	Week 06 Due date: 16 Apr 2021 at 23:59	600 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response to set reading: Turner Short Answer	15%	Week 09 Due date: 07 May 2021 at 23:59	600 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research proposal Essay template	20%	Week 11 Due date: 21 May 2021 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	Excaptional work
Distinction	75 - 84	Work of a high standard
Credit	65 - 74	Work of a good standard
Pass	50 - 64	Work of an adequate standard
Fail	0 - 49	Does not meet satisfactory standard.

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.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

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	Introduction	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Special events as performance	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Choosing a special event	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 03	Performative acts & self presentation	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 03	Observation Workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 04	Working with Bourdieu	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	Writing with Bourdieu	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 07	Rituals and performance	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 07	Rituals and special events	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 08	Liminal or liminoid/ritual or ritual-like	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 08	Working with Turner	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 09	Describing Action	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 09	Writing workshop	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 10	Writing description	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 10	Theory and Practice: writing between the two	Workshop (2 hr)
Week 11	Research Proposals	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 12	Research Proposals	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 13	From 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. Please contact your tutor if you are unable to attend the workshop for reasons of illness or misadvanture.
Lecture recording: All lectures are prerecorded. This is 1 hour a week of your class time until Week 10. It is expected that all students will attend their workshop having listenened to the pre-recorded lecture that that week which will be availavle on Canvas.
Workshops are not recorded
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours preparation time (listening to lecture 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 1 Required

Garner, Helen. 2005/2016 In the Wings, Everywhere I Look, Melbourne: Text Publishing, pp.218-227.

Rossmanith, Kate 2018 Courtroom Appearances, Small Wrongs: How we really say sorry in love, life and law, Melbourne: Hardie Grant, pp. 1-4.

Week 2 Required

Lewis, John Lowell. 2013. Special Events and Everyday Life, in The Anthropology of Cultural Performance, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.1-11

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 3 Required

Butler, Judith. 1988. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory

Dolezal, Luna. 2017. The phenomenology of self-presentation: describing the structures of intercorporeality with Erving Goffman. Phenomenology Cognitive Science, Vol. 16, pp. 237-254

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

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

(watch 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.

(watch 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.

Week 6 Required

Maton, Karl. 2008. Habitus. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, pp. 49–65. Acumen.

Connell, Catherine and Ashley Mears (2018) Bourdieu and the Body, in The Oxford Handbook of Pierre Bourdieu, Thomas Mevetz and Jeffery J. Sallaz (eds), New York: Oxford University Press

Assessment 1 due at end of week

Week 7 Required

Maxwell, Ian, 2015. My Big Fat Greek Baptism. In Performance and Temporalisation: Time Happens. Grant, McNeilly and Veerapen (ed.) Basingstoke, U.K: Palgrave Macmillan, Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Week 8 Required

Turner, Victor, 1990. Are there universals of performance in myth, ritual and drama?, in By Means of Performance: Intercultural Studies in Theatre & Ritual, Richard Schechner & Willa Appel (eds), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 8-18

Week 9 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 : Performing Arts Journal Publications.

Lewis, John Lowell. 2008. Chapter 1: Toward a Unified Theory of Cultural Performance: A Reconstructive Introduction to Victor Turner, in Graham St John, (ed.) Victor Turner and Contemporary Cultural Performance, New York: Berghan Books

Assessment 2 due at end of week

Week 10 No reading

Week 11 No reading

Assessment 3 due at end of week

Wee 12 and 13 No reading

Individual discussions with tutors regarding Assessment 3 in preparation for Assessment 4

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, 2021 [Normal day] - Remote

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