Module description
This module introduces you to advanced scholarly research and writing practices in the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies, with an emphasis on language, historiography, ethnography, and practice-led-research, as well as performative writing and fictocriticism. Attention to the discursive and institutional practices of museums, archives and universities, print cultures and electronic media, photography and film, oral histories and the ‘everyday’, will be conjugated with consideration of what we see or look for when we encounter performance events; how we record, analyse, and disseminate these events; what frames (institutional and discursive) determine the objects of our analysis; and what ethics, aesthetics, and politics shape our access to and understanding of theatre and performance work. Reflection on participant observation and fieldwork, field notes, diaries, and journals, reviews, histories, compendia, and dramatic criticism, will serve as grounds for informed consideration of your own research and writing in the field.
Educational aims & objectives
By the end of this module, students will have gained advanced insight into the ethics and politics of archival, historiographical, ethnographic, and performative research in the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies. They will be able to demonstrate a keen understanding of issues central to theatre and performance research work, including the composition and recording of field notes, diaries, and journals; reviews; histories; compendia; and dramatic criticism. They will have submitted one 1 ,000 - word piece of performative writing (20%); and one 4,000 - word research essay foregrounding their research method (80%).