ABSTRACT
In order to grasp the intricate interrelations between knowledge-making practices and their effects, Foucault brought in the important distinction between the French terms conaissance and savoir. In Unmarked: The Politics of Performance (1993), Peggy Phelan, for instance, traces it back to the performance art of the 1960s and 1970s, arguing that the ephemerality of this art form gives it its subversive potential. The authors propose a new concept of performativity of academic discourse, which aims less to transfer knowledge acquired in artistic events (as in PAR) than to become a field of scholars' performative experiences. The diversity of approaches and case studies presented in Situated Knowing illustrates the potential of performance studies as a discipline to stretch beyond its narrowly defined boundaries, to become a harbinger of a new episteme that is less about producing knowledges than following the dynamic processes of knowledge-making.
