ABSTRACT
Performance and performativity have emerged as key concepts in social and cultural theory. The recent rise of the interdisciplinary fi eld of performance studies has shifted our understanding of performance as mere entertainment to performance as ‘a way of creation and being ’ (Madison and Hamera 2006: xii, original emphasis). As a result, the concept has expanded to encompass everyday action and interaction, as well as ritual and cultural events beyond the stage, infl uencing a wide range of academic fi elds. At the intersection of cultural studies, theatre studies, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, gender studies and psychology, studies of performance and performativity clearly grapple with questions about the complex interrelation between the individual, culture and society.
