| CODE | SPC5001 | ||||||
| TITLE | Towards an Ethology of Performance | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 12 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Mediterranean Institute | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Aims: - To reappraise the concepts of ‘human’ and ‘animal’ - To consider the characteristics and occurrence of performance in human and animal cultures. - To evaluate human/animal performance from a range of investigative and analytical standpoints, including structural, behavioural, cognitive, and neurophysiological. - To apply the concepts of ethology across the human/animal ‘divide’. - To place human/animal performance activities within an ethological envelope Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this study-unit, the student should be able to: - Appreciate the variety of human performance activities. - Relate this to similar evidence of animal performance. - Apply a wide range of critical and analytical tools to an understanding of performance, in its broadest sense. - Understand the concepts of ethology. - Apply these to an examination of the function of performance in living organisms and systems. Indicative Contents 1: From Theatre to Performance 2: Performance diversity in human culture 3: Characteristics of human performance i) social and temporal marking 4: Characteristics of human performance Ii) embodiment and arousal 5: The human/animal nexus 6: Animal performance – types and features 7: Animal performance – characteristics and occurrence 8: Shared characteristics of performance in humans and animals 9: Arousal in human/animal performance 10: Cognition and arousal 11: Neurophysiology and arousal 12: Towards an ethology of performance Reading List - Barnett SA, Instinct and Intelligence London, Prentiss-Hall, 1971 - Bateson P.P.G. & Klopfer P.H. (Eds.), Vol.3 : Perspectives in ethology. - Social Behaviour CUP, 1978 - Benedict R, Patterns of Culture - Bettelheim B, Symbolic Wounds - Crook J H (Ed.), Social Behaviour in Birds and Mammals London, Academic Press, 1970 - Crook J H, Primate ecology and human origins; ecological influences on social organization London, Prentiss-Hall, 1979 - Eliade M, Shamanism OUP, 1972 - Deluz A & Heald S (Eds.), Anthropology and Psychoanalysis - Douglas M, The Forest of Symbols - van Gennep A, The Rites of Passage - Ingold T (ed.) , What is an Animal? London, Unwin Hyman, 1988 - Levy-Bruhl L , L’Âme du Primitif - Lorenz K (tr. Martin R.), King Solomon’s Ring London, Penguin, 1960 - Lorenz K (tr. Martin R), Studies in Animal Behaviour (2 Vols) London, Methuen, 1971 - Machalek R, Evolutionary Behaviour and Human Nature - the Archaeology of Epigenetic Rules Cambridge, CUP, 2001 - Schechner R, Between Theatre and Anthropology London, Routledge, 1996 - Schechner R , The Future of Ritual London, Routledge, 1998 - Strongman K T, The Psychology of Emotion Chichester, Wiley, 1996 - Turner V, The Ndembu, Cambridge, CUP, 1970 - Turner V, From Ritual to Theatre New York, PAJ, 1976 - Wilce J, Passionate Scholarshiip – Recent Anthropologies of Emotion CUP, 2003 - Willis R, Animals Old and New – Multiple Perspectives on the Meaning of Beasthood London, Palgrave MacMillan, 2005 - Winkelman B, Evolutionary and Neurohermeneutic Approaches to Culture and the Brain CUP 2004 - Woolfe J, The Social Production of Art London, Methuen 1984 |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite study-unit Admission to the degree according to the prescribed rubrics (see general course documentation). Proficiency in spoken and written English, at ILPS 6.5. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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