Performance: A Critical Introduction is the first survey to provide an overview of the modern concept of performance and how it has developed in various fields. In a highly accessible style Marvin Carlson introduces the reader to the contested interpretations of performance art as a theatrical activity and to the ways that performance has been understood by ethnographers, anthropologists, linguists and cultural theorists. Some of the topics he discusses include:
* the evolution of performance art since the 1960s
* developments of performance as a concept within the various social sciences
* the relationships between performance, postmodernism and the politics of identity
For any student of performance studies, visual and performing arts or theatre history, Performance: A Critical Introduction provides a vital insight into the diverse meanings and uses of performance