Performative writing

Abstract: The article, divided into three sections, argues for the methodological power of performative writing. Part 1 borrows from the literary tradition by offering an apology on behalf of performative wr...

Abstract: This essay performatively expresses specific theoretical ruminations on class, language, and race. This writing is a performance, while it is or is not necessarily for the “stage.” The performance seeks a felt‐sensing meeting between theory, writing, and performing. The performer claims an uneasy possession of performance as a means of both subjectivity and freedom. Theory becomes another way to know performance better; and performance becomes the desired illuminator of theory. From the burlesque to the sublime, the performer conjures four different encounters with her theoretical fathers: Karl Marx, Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacques Derrida, and Frantz Fanon. Needing useful theory‐from the ‘high’ ground of scholarship to the ‘low’ ground of ancient re/tellings‐for useful purposes, the performer must first remember where theories begin.

Abstract: This essay undertakes a critical re-assessment of Mary Sue fan fiction—a popular genre of fan writing in which (typically) female authors insert themselves as primary characters into the universe of a beloved media text. Despite being denigrated by scholars and fans alike, this essay contends that Mary Sue fan fiction—as an instance of ecriture feminine—challenges the patriarchal economy of writing. It does so by allowing women to write their own desires, deconstructing the Author-God function, and utilizing poetic language. The essay rhetorically enacts its argument by employing a performative, narrative, fragmentary, intertextual style that invites readers to actively coproduce rather than to passively consume the essay.

Abstract: Despite, or because of, theories that problematize concepts of performance audience, few recent studies of audience exist. This paper ponders the relative lack of audience studies, considers obstacles to them, and demonstrates the complexities of audiencing through an exploration of selected Playback Theatre performances. Playback Theatre's characteristics evidence an ancient and yet innovative type of social activism by featuring audience members, giving them agency in the performance, and empowering them to share values and experiences, argue with, and support others through story. Playback Theatre involves a blurring of roles where performers become audience members and audience members become performers; it provides a metaphorical language where performances "answer" performances; and it invites a performative method of research and reporting that features interrogating over evaluating.