| Unit name | Research Methods and Questions: Working with Theatre and Performance Archives |
|---|---|
| Unit code | DRAMM0019 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Hindson |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
none |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | Department of Theatre |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will introduce students to a range of research methodologies and critical literature related to archival work in Theatre and Performance studies. It will be taught using the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. The unit will offer a practical introduction to working with archives as a researcher and the practices of theatre archivists. It will contain tours of the sites of Theatre Collection, such as onsite and off site stores and other appropriate archival resources. Students will work in seminars on critical ideas surrounding the archive and theatre and performance studies (see key reading below). Students will work intensively with archival material throughout the unit, familiarising themselves with the key resource for the remainder of their Masters study and accruing knowledge of key critical debates around archival work in the discipline.
1. To demonstrate knowledge of, and use creatively, a wider range of secondary literature than at Level H while developing independent lines of inquiry
2. To be aware of, and able to apply to an advanced level, a broad range of established critical and theoretical ideas pertaining to the archive and to develop a critical approach towards them
3. To demonstrate an understanding of relationships between Theatre and Performance historiography and archives through research.
4. To develop a comparative and evaluative understanding of approaches to archival material.
5. To demonstrate effective time management and advanced presentation skills 6. To plan and execute a research project to an advanced level.
Weekly 2-hour seminars
AND
One-day site visit per term to be arranged with the students independently of central timetabling
1 x seminar presentation (twenty minutes; 50%) (Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
AND
1 x critical write up and evaluation of the seminar presentation (2 500 words; 50%) (Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
Tracy Davis (2007) ‘The Context Problem’ Theatre Survey 45:2 Rebecca Schneider (2001) ‘Performance Remains’ Performance Research 6:2 Daniel Miller (2005)
Materiality (Durham, NC: Duke University Press) Diana Taylor (2007)
The Archive and the Repertoire (Durham, NC: Duke University Press) Terry Cook and Joan M Schwartz (2002)
‘Archives, Records and Power: From (Postmodern) Theory to (Archival) Performance’ Archival Science 2 Charlotte M Canning and Thomas Postlewait eds (2010)
Representing the Past: Essays in Performance Historiography (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press)
