Wiley-Blackwell Anthologies in Social and Cultural Anthropol #26: The Anthropology of Performance: A Reader

• Introduces new and advanced students to the task of studying and interpreting complex social, cultural, and political events from a performance perspective
• Presents performance as a convergent field of inquiry that bridges the humanities and social sciences, with a distinctive cross-cultural perspective in anthropology
• Demonstrates the range of human expression and meaning through performance in related fields of religious & ritual studies, folkloristics, theatre, language arts, and art & dance
• Explores the role of performance in constructing identity, community, and the broader processes of globalization and transnationalism
• Includes fascinating global case studies on a diverse range of phenomena
• Contributions from leading scholars examine verbal genres, ritual and drama, public spectacle, tourism, and the performances embedded in everyday selves, communities and nations

The anthology focuses on the way in which performances, broadly construed as acting aesthetically on or off stage, figure in the anthropological study of culture. Drawing on a wide range of phenomena, and employing fascinating case studies, the volume successfully demonstrates how human beings communicate with one another - both verbally and non-verbally - through the use of stylized or expressive behavior.

The Anthropology of Performance has been accessibly arranged into a number of thematic sets, and structured in a way that introduces new and advanced students to the task of studying and interpreting complex social, cultural, and political events from a performance perspective. It begins with a valuable theoretical introduction by the editor which contextualizes and frames the subsequent chapters. It is an indispensable volume in this interdisciplinary field for anthropologists, folklorists, sociologists, theatre studies specialists, and the interested general reader.

Toward an Anthropology of Performance
Frank J. Korom

I. Performance in Prehistory and Antiquity

1. “Singing the Rug: Patterned Textiles and the Origins of Indo-European Metrical Poetry
Anthony Tuck

2. Performance and Written Literature in Classical Greece
Rosalind Thomas

II. Verbal Genres of Performance

3. Playing the Dozens
Roger A. Abrahams

4. The La Have Island General Store: Sociability and Verbal Art in a Nova Scotia Community
R. Bauman

5. Proverbs and the Ethnography of Speaking
E. O. Arewa and A. Dundes

6. Gbaya Riddles in Changing Times
P. A. Noss

7. Shadows of Song: Exploring Research and Performance Strategies in Yolngu Women’s Crying Songs
Fiona Magowan

III. Ritual, Drama, and Public Spectacle

8. Prayer as Person: The Performative Force in Navajo Prayer Acts
Sam D. Gill

9. Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality
E. L. Schieffelin

10. He Should Have Worn a Sari
Joyce Flueckiger

11. Representing History: Performing the Columbian Exposition
R. K. Bank

12. The Palio of Siena: Performance and Process
A. P. Logan

IV. Performance and Politics in the Making of Communities  

13. Poetry and Politics in a Transylvanian Village
G. Kligman

14. The Matter of Talk: Political Performance in Bhatgaon
D. Brenneis

15. Celebrating Cricket: The Symbolic Construction of Caribbean Politics
F. E. Manning

16. Performing the Nation: China’s Children as Little Red Pioneers
T. W. Woronov

V. Tourist Performances and the Global Ecumene

17. The Promise of Sonic Translation: Performing the Festive Sacred in Morocco
Deborah Kapchan

18. Ethnic Tourism in Hokkaido and the Shaping of Ainu Identity
Lisa Hiwasaki

19. What They Came With: Carnival and the Persistence of African Performance Aesthetics in the Diaspora
Esiaba Irobi

20. Global Breakdancing and the Intercultural Body
Halifu Osumare