An examination of the historical conditions of performance, either given in a historical period or comparatively, with specific attention to the relationship between methods of historical studies and performance; may involve visiting artists. Topics vary from semester to semester.

The twenty-first century has seen the rapid acceleration of climate change and biodiversity loss as well as increasingly creative responses to the ecological crisis by activists, artists, and communities. This course will examine the strategies, tactics, and aesthetics of the modern environmental justice movement as well as its historical precursors - for example, anti-enclosure rebellions in sixteenth-century England and rural uprisings against deforestation in eighteenth-century India. We will approach places like the Standing Rock Reservation, People’s Park, Berkeley, and the Weelaunee Forest in South Atlanta as sites of eco-drama, where our society’s contradictory values about its responsibilities toward the earth manifest as open conflict. We will also read, watch, and discuss plays and performances that bring imagistic, symbolic, and emotional communication to the climate conversation. Our overarching goals will be to survey the landscape of environmental activism (and “artivism”) so as to find our place within it, or in relation to it, as well as to empower ourselves to take personal and collective action.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills