Folklore and Folklife - Courses - Spring 2004

For more information about Folklore and Folklife,at UPenn, contact Professor Dan Ben-Amos at dbamos@sas.upenn.edu.

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FOLK 545 401 Festive Drama

R. Abrahams
Seminar: Tuesday 1:00-3:00
Contact: abrahams@sas.upenn.edu

Cross-listed: COML545, ENGL548

This seminar will examine how the "texts" of world traditions of festival drama are realized in performance and in participant experience. We will consider the techniques of the festival in manipulating space, time, and bodies, and how these affect the representation of narrative. We will also look at the range of participatory norms in these event--impersonation,possession, spectation, communion, etc.--as they create relationships between individuals, communities, history, and the divine. Each member of the seminar will select a specific tradition to study in depth and share with the class. Course requirements include participation in discusssion and the writing of several short papers considering our theoretical questions in relation to the chosen tradition.

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