Performance Studies Major
Students in this major immerse themselves in the study and creation of text-based and cultural performances.
Undergraduate Programs
Major and Minor
The Department of Performance Studies offers two undergraduate program options.
Performance Studies Minor
Students pursue performance theories, methodologies and techniques to develop artistic and/or scholarly work in other primary disciplines across the University.
Coursework
Performance Studies is an interdisciplinary field developed at the intersection of oral interpretation, literary adaptation, theatre, anthropology, aesthetic theory and speech-act theory.
Courses explore the roles performance and performativity play in the constitution of social realities including race, sexuality, gender, nation and ability, drawing heavily upon the traditions of black studies, Latinx studies, Asian American studies, Indigenous studies, queer theory and feminist theory, while learning a range of methods for approaching performance, including performance ethnography, archival inquiry and performance theory.