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$5.78The Story
Lines of Activity investigates the cultural life of the HullHouse Settlement of Chicago, one of the most significant reform institutions of the Progressive Era, from its founding in 1889 through its growth into a major social service institution. The study focuses specifically on the role of performancenot only theatrical representation, but also athletics, childrens games, storytelling, festivals, living museums, and the practices of everyday lifeto demonstrate how such cultural rituals could propel social activism at HullHouse and paradoxically serve as vehicles for both cultural expression and cultural assimilation.This groundbreaking book demonstrates how performance analysis can contribute to the historical study of American reform as well as to critical inquiry on the arts and social change. She develops connections between performativity and sex/gender difference by interpreting HullHouse as a sphere of queer kinship and alternative gender performance. Lines of Activity also engages a variety of debates on the nature of historical representation, and the role of theory in historical writing.As the notion of performance historiography gains currency, Jacksons study exposes the gender politics of such scholarly trends. By selecting the Progressive Era and HullHouse as arenas of inquiry, Jackson foregrounds how past discourses of domesticity, pragmatism, transnationalism, and environmentalism already contain performancecentered notions of identity, space, and community. Through these and other arguments, Lines of Activity reveals the intimate connection between a history of HullHouse performance and the performance of HullHouse history.Shannon Jackson is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and of Dramatic Art and Dance, University of California, Berkeley.
Description
Lines of Activity investigates the cultural life of the HullHouse Settlement of Chicago, one of the most significant reform institutions of the Progressive Era, from its founding in 1889 through its growth into a major social service institution. The study focuses specifically on the role of performancenot only theatrical representation, but also athletics, childrens games, storytelling, festivals, living museums, and the practices of everyday lifeto demonstrate how such cultural rituals could propel social activism at HullHouse and paradoxically serve as vehicles for both cultural expression and cultural assimilation.This groundbreaking book demonstrates how performance analysis can contribute to the historical study of American reform as well as to critical inquiry on the arts and social change. She develops connections between performativity and sex/gender difference by interpreting HullHouse as a sphere of queer kinship and alternative gender performance. Lines of Activity also engages a variety of debates on the nature of historical representation, and the role of theory in historical writing.As the notion of performance historiography gains currency, Jacksons study exposes the gender politics of such scholarly trends. By selecting the Progressive Era and HullHouse as arenas of inquiry, Jackson foregrounds how past discourses of domesticity, pragmatism, transnationalism, and environmentalism already contain performancecentered notions of identity, space, and community. Through these and other arguments, Lines of Activity reveals the intimate connection between a history of HullHouse performance and the performance of HullHouse history.Shannon Jackson is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and of Dramatic Art and Dance, University of California, Berkeley.
