Theorists at Work in Chapter Two: Constituting Performance

Gregory Bateson

Anthropology students at Minnesota State University created an overview of Gregory Bateson's life. At the Institute for Intercultural Studies, Robert I. Levy and Roy Rapport offer a tribute to Gregory Bateson, his life and works. Martin Ryder's page on Bateson provides links, definitions, and additional readings. Bateson archives are available at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman has drawn scholars and theorists from performance studies, communication, sociology, and anthropology to return to his works again and again. The Goffman page at Symbolic Interactionism offers highlights of his life and work, as does the Goffman entry from Magill's Guide to 20th Century Authors. At Anthrobase, his ties to anthropology and the work of Victor Turner are explored. For communication studies, here's Blackwell's International Encyclopedia of Communication entry on Goffman.

Andreas Teuber webpage on Goffman includes biographical information, a bibliography, and links to further Goffman sources.Adam D. Barnhart summarizes Goffman most famous book, Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Excerpts from Chapter VI, The Arts of Impression Management, are worth reading. Gadi Algazi, at Department of History, Tel Aviv University, compiled this bibliography of Goffman works. At Questia, you can click on a variety of books and articles that utilize Goffman's theories [just click on the "Read Now" button to the right of the title].

Here are excerpts from three Goffman works: Presentation of Self, Asylums, and Encounters. At the American Sociological Association webpage, you can click to read a pdf version of Goffman's 1982 presidential address to the association.

In "Role Models And Role Distance: A Remembrance of Erving Goffman," Gary T. Marx, a student of Goffman's speaks to the power of his works. Also worth reading is Andrew Travers' review of Philip Manning's book, Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology (1992).

Richard Bauman

Richard Bauman is Distinguished Professor Folklore & Ethnomusicology, Communication & Culture, Anthropology at Indiana University. He is responsible for pushing traditional folklore studies from text-centered cultural studies toward performance as a viable unit of cultural observation. This thinking was quite radical for the time when he published his book, Verbal Art as Performance in 1977. He has been very influential to the field of Performance Studies. Other publications that may be of interest include: Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments: A Communications-centered Handbook, and Story, Performance, and Event: Contextual Studies of Oral Narrative.