Anthropology of Performance

Frank J. Korom is Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Boston University, where he teaches courses on verbal art, anthropology of religion, and cultures of South Asia. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in India, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, amongst other places. His interests range from ritual and performance studies to visual and material culture. His extensive publications include Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora (2003) and Village of Painters: Narrative Scrolls from West Bengal (2006).

“This volume is a comprehensive and well-structured compilation of previously published essays, articulating how anthropology has explored diverse instances of performance . . This book will be of great use to graduate students looking to specialize in the field, or faculty members who wish to deepen their understanding of established concepts and perhaps recast their own work.”  (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1 June 2015)

• Acknowledgments to Sources viiThe Anthropology of Performance: An Introduction 1Frank J. KoromPart I Performance in Prehistory and Antiquity 91 Singing the Rug: Patterned Textiles and the Origins of Indo-European Metrical Poetry 11Anthony Tuck2 Performance and Written Literature in Classical Greece: Envisaging Performance from Written Literature and Comparative Contexts 26Rosalind ThomasPart II Verbal Genres of Performance 373 Playing the Dozens 39Roger D. Abrahams4 The La Have Island General Store: Sociability and Verbal Art in a Nova Scotia Community 49Richard Bauman5 Proverbs and the Ethnography of Speaking Folklore 61E. Ojo Arewa and Alan Dundes6 Gbaya Riddles in Changing Times 73Philip A. Noss7 Shadows of Song: Exploring Research and Performance Strategies in Yolngu Women’s Crying-Songs 80Fiona MagowanPart III Ritual, Drama, and Public Spectacle 958 Prayer as Person: The Performative Force in Navajo Prayer Acts 97Sam D. Gill9 Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality 107Edward L. Schieffelin10 "He Should Have Worn a Sari": A "Failed" Performance of a Central Indian Oral Epic 124Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger11 Representing History: Performing the Columbian Exposition 133Rosemarie K. Bank12 The Palio of Siena: Performance and Process 150Alice Pomponio LoganPart IV Performance and Politics in the Making of Communities 16513 Poetry and Politics in a Transylvanian Village 167Gail Kligman14 The Matter of Talk: Political Performances in Bhatgaon 174Donald Brenneis15 Celebrating Cricket: The Symbolic Construction of Caribbean Politics 183Frank E. Manning16 Performing the Nation: China's Children as Little Red Pioneers 199T.E. WoronovPart V Tourist Performances and the Global Ecumene 21517 The Promise of Sonic Translation: Performing the Festive Sacred in Morocco 217Deborah A. Kapchan18 Ethnic Tourism in Hokkaidô and the Shaping of Ainu Identity 234Lisa Hiwasaki19 What They Came With: Carnival and the Persistence of African Performance Aesthetics in the Diaspora 250Esiaba Irobi20 Global Breakdancing and the Intercultural Body 260Halifu OsumareFurther Readings 273Index 287