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Dell Hymes: Universal Definition Of Performance?

1778 Words8 Pages

Nazira Abibullakyzy
#ANT 306: Anthropology of Performance
Essay 1, Question choice №2
October 22, 2014
IS THERE SINGLE UNIVERSAL DEFINTION OF PERFORMANCE?
There have been many scholars defining the word “performance” relying on their field of study or interest. Performance as a subject of study has attracted massive attention due to its communicative nature, helpful in studying humans as social beings. Various explanations of the term performance have contributed to the emergence of performance as an interdisciplinary concept, which draws upon the theories from sociology, psychology, and anthropology. Thus, the term has a broad meaning, starting from speeches in daily life conversation continuing with the artistic performances in theatres and …show more content…

In his paper “Breakthrough into the Performance”, Dell Hymes suggested that “one might even hope that folklore would take the lead in showing how appreciation and interpretation of performances as unique events can be united with analysis of the underlying rules and regulations which make performance possible and intelligible.” Here, Hymes regards performance as an “artful accomplishment”, instead of regarding it as a “flawed representation of the ideal structure”.1 Bauman developed his idea claiming that “performance as a mode of spoken verbal communication consists in the assumption of responsibility to an audience for a display of communicative competence”. Combining both scholars’ works, performance can be defined as an artful communication which places responsibility towards the …show more content…

However, one question comes to mind: is there universal definition of performance? Goffman’s definition of performance is quite universal, but still it is not common to all performances. After analyzing all the approaches taken to analyze the performance, I would say that there is no universal meaning given to performance. Looking at the definitions more concisely, I came up with a conclusion that each adds distinct meaning to the concept of performance. Scholars define performance in context of their scope of understanding. I believe that advantages of having different definitions of performance outweigh its disadvantages. One could argue that having a different definition of performance is sometimes misguiding, making it a debated issue. Indeed, multidisciplinary understanding of performance is a way of having a multidirectional view on the actions happening around the

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