Reading and composition in connection with the study of dramatic literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

This class traces the relationship between bodies, imagination, and imperialism, asking how the field of Performance Studies can help us better understand the ways in which subjects are made and unmade through the broad lens of Western imperialism. With the readings and other materials, we will examine colonial fantasies and anxieties of otherness through analyses of class, race, and gender. What makes something “exotic” and what does it have to do with desire? What are the material and psychic effects of enacting a fantasy? How does performance make worlds, and what can it tell us about the imperial (dis)orders of things? We will consider these topics through movement, ranging from dance to political manifestations, which will include ways that artists and activists imagine different possibilities for existence. This is a reading and writing composition course whose main aim is to help students develop skills for successfully writing academic essays. By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to: blend analytic and critical thinking, especially around key concepts of the course; read and discuss challenging scholarly texts; write at a university level, engaging critically with the topics and texts from the course; and apply performance studies as a critical lens and method for analyzing objects of study.

Requisites

• Satisfaction of the Entry Level Language Requirement.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills