THDA 217, Gender and Race Theory in Performance: This course introduces students to debates, methods, and conceptual frameworks in race and gender, as represented in performance. It engages students in an interdisciplinary exploration of key terms–such as corporeality, embodiment, intersectionality, and performativity–that remain central to the fields of gender and sexuality, critical race theory, and performance. Through drafts and revisions of written work, critical dialogues and oral presentations in small groups, peer feedback, and analytical reading, students will engage in questions around identity formation, structural inequality, and the politics of citizenship.
Frequency: Occasionally.
Cross-listed as: WGSS 217-01
Course Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Think deeply about dance and theater as cultural practices that reflect, produce, and contest complex social structures around racialized and gendered bodies in the United States;
- Articulate key concepts in critical race theory and draw connections to both historical and contemporary performance traditions in the United States;
- Describe and critically address the body in performance in short critical papers;
- Address notions of agency and the ways contemporary dance and theater artists engage with legacies of structural inequality.
Methodology
- Viewing of performance
- Close reading of seminal texts
- Class discussions
- Peer reviews
- Writing of critical papers and essays
Evaluation
- Attendance and class participation: 15%
- Two short critical essays, 5 pages each: 30% (15% each)
- Oral analysis of a performance of the student’s choice: 10%
- First draft of cumulative paper on a performance of the student’s choice, 6 pages: 10%
- Peer review: 10%
- Final paper, 10 pages: 25%