Pre-performative Shadows and Traces of Anthropology. On the Borderline between Social Sciences and Theater

Abstract

Many anthropologists have their share in precursory ideas important for the development of Performance Studies. This article aims to present three main categories of anthropological contribution to the abovementioned field: debate, practice, and concepts. Although the meeting between Theatre and Anthropology in terms of a theory was late, the first signs of their collision can be found in ancient philosophy and literature topos Theatrum Mundi. In early Anthropology, we have the analysis of religion which takes into account relation between ritual and theatre. This analysis started a long debate and contributed to the theoretical basis of Performance Studies. In terms of research methods, both fields discussed prefer to rely on experience gained through fieldwork (Anthropology) and participation in the creative process (Performance Studies). This type of approach refers us to the participant observation, in which the scholar in his physical and mental self is forced to play various “roles”. Apart from its key role in the debate and equally important contribution to research practice Anthropology has a significant share in creating a theoretical basis of Performance Studies. The two most important concepts here are a cultural spectacle and social drama. The expression pre-performative used in this paper aims at emphasizing that the history and ubiquity of the performative aspect of cultural and social activities are vast and performative actions existed long before they started to be part of anthropological analyzes or became a ground on which new branch of social science started to grow.