Theater and Society

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

There will be a theoretical systemization of the underlying themes of the curricular unit, and the promotion of debate surrounding the selected bibliography. It will be adopted a system of permanent evaluation: an oral presentation made by the students of one text (25%); two written essays with a synthesis and critical approach about central issues of the syllabus (each essay – 37,5%). Each of these three different elements of the evaluation should be linked to a different point of the syllabus.

Learning Outcomes

1. To understand the plurality of the representations of society as well the specificities of theater as a report about social life; 2. To know and to understand in a comparative and critical way the different sociological approaches concerning theater; 3. To understand and to be able to analyse how theatre, mobilizing the elements of the repertoires concerning social phenomena and processes, is able to tell us (in a performance mode) about cultural identities, historical dynamics and urban experiences related to several societies.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Theater and the plurality of representations of social life: 1.1 the nature of the reports about society; 1.2 the work of the makers and users of representations of society; 1.3 standardization and innovation in the representational activity; 1.4 reality aesthetics; 2) sociological approaches about the theatrical activity 2.1 theater as a world of cooperative work; 2.2 theater as a field of struggles, distinction and conflict;; 2.3 theater in the context of urban culture worlds; 2.4 theater in an post-legitimacy analysis of culture; 2.5 theater confronted with mass and diffused audiences performances; 3) social dramas and aesthetic dramas: 3.1 theater as a configuration mobilizing different cultural repertoires and resources; 3.2 theatrical representations of cultural identities; 3.3 theatrical representations of historical processes; 3.4 theatrical representations of urban life.

Head Lecturer(s)

Carlos André Brito Correia

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Oral presentations: 30.0%
Research work: 70.0%

Bibliography

Abercrombie, Nicholas e Longhurst, Brian (1998)-Audiences: A Sociological Theory of Performance and Imagination. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications
Becker, Howard S. (1984)-Art Worlds. Berkeley/Los Angeles: The University of California Press
Becker, Howard S. (2007)-Telling About Society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
Bourdieu, Pierre (1996)-As Regras da Arte: Génese e Estrutura do Campo Literário. Lisboa: Editorial Presença
Crane, Diana (1992)-The Production of Culture: Media and the Urban Arts. Newbury Park, Londres, Nova Deli: Sage
Fabiani, Jean-Louis (2007)-Après la culture légitime. Objets, publics, autorités. Paris: L’Harmattan
Fortuna, Carlos et al. (orgs.) (2013)-Cidade e espetáculo : a cena teatral luso-brasileira contemporânea. São Paulo: EDUC
Schechner, Richard (2008)-Performance Theory. London, New York: Routledge
Swidler, Ann (1986)-“Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies”, American Sociological Review, vol.51, nº2, 273-286.